Last year, it was called a direct path to “World War III.” Now it’s being announced as an accomplished fact. The U.K. is delivering Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv a much-needed and long coveted long-range precision strike capability.
A member of the military walks past a MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow, south west of London, on July 17, 2018.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that the supply of the missiles will “allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based on Ukrainian sovereign territory,” adding that “none of this would have been necessary had Russia not invaded.” Speaking in the British House of Commons, Wallace confirmed the Ukrainians would deploy the missiles from their fleet of ex-Soviet fighter jets. In fact, the Storm Shadow missiles would have been delivered earlier, Wallace seemed to suggest, but for the technical engineering feats necessary to adapt the missile to older-generation fighter jets. Ukraine has a background in hybridizing or “MacGyvering” its preexisting aircraft to use NATO-standard weapons.
The British decision comes as the U.S. — still Ukraine's most important partner and source of security assistance — has consistently refused to supply Kyiv with their own long-range precision strike weapons, most notably the ATACMS tactical ballistic missile. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in July that the U.S. wouldn’t supply the system to “ensure we do not end up in a circumstance where we’re heading down the road towards a third world war.
There may also be a domestic political calculation to Washington’s outsourcing of long-range strike capability to its closest ally across the Atlantic. In an, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov heaped praise on Britain’s democracy. “Their opposition is as strong as the current government in terms of supporting us,” Reznikov said.
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