London Approves British-Ukrainian Cruise Missile Attacks Across Russia: West Moves to Escalate Deeper Strikes

The United Kingdom has approved the use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles for attacks across Russian territory, according to a report on September 11 from British media outlet The Guardian citing government sources. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who visited Ukraine alongside U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, had cited the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, which was first reported on September 8, as a “significant and dangerous escalation” that influenced the thinking in London and Washington. “The escalator here is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Putin has escalated with the shipment of missiles from Iran. We see a new axis of Russia, Iran and North Korea,” he stated. The reported decision would make Britain the first country to allow such long range missile strikes into Russia, and would be strongly in line with the longstanding trend throughout the conflict of London leading the Western world to further escalate its involvement in Ukraine. Britain was notably the first country to pledge to provide Western-produced main battles tanks, and the first to provide depleted uranium rounds, while also leading European countries to pressure the United States to allow deliveries of F-16 fighters to Ukraine. The country was also the first to deliver long range cruise, with the first Storm Shadows having been supplied in May 2023. 

Strikes on Russian territory using Storm Shadow cruise missiles will heavily involve British forces in the theatre, with the country having played a central role in the war effort against Russia from early 2022 including with frontline combat deployments. In February 2024 German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz confirmed that British special forces in Ukraine were providing vital support to facilitating launches of Storm Shadow attacks against Russian targets, highlighting that Germany’s lack of a comparable presence prevented it from delivering its own cruise missiles as they would not be operable without foreign support. The head of the U.S. Special Operations Command General Bryan Fenton three months later provided further elaboration on the operations of British ground units in Ukraine, stating that the Pentagon has been learning about the ongoing war “mostly through the eyes of our UK special operations partners,” who he stated had been testing new approaches to modern warfare in the theatre. Use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles also requires targeting data provided by NATO’s satellite network. Use of the missiles would not be possible without access to this network and without the extensive presence of British personnel in Ukraine, meaning that any attacks on Russia can be considered to have been launched by the United Kingdom and Ukraine rather than by Ukraine alone. 

On May 6, 2024, as expansion of Storm Shadow attacks was being considered, the Russian Foreign Ministry threatened retaliate by attacking British targets directly, stating: “The response to Kiev’s attacks on the Russian Federation using British weapons could be attacks on military targets in Britain and outside Ukraine.” Russia’s failure to proportionally respond with attacks on NATO members’ targets, as multiple Western states play very direct roles in attacks on targets across Russia, many of which are highly sensitive, has been considered an abject failure of escalation management. The United Kingdom is expected to be closely followed by the United States and other European states in allowing long range missiles to be used against targets across Russia. Indeed, Denmark and the Netherlands have both stated that F-16 fighter supplied to Ukraine can be used to strike targets across internationally recognised Russian territory - although such attacks by the ageing Cold War era jets would not be feasible without integration of a long range cruise missiles such as the British Storm Shadow, French SCALP or American AGM-158 JASSM.

While Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles have already been integrated onto Ukraine’s Soviet-built fighters, the possibility of the United States providing JASSM missiles was hinted at by President Joe Biden in mid August. Preceding the expected delivery of JASSM missiles, the United States is expected to also allow its ATACMS ballistic missiles to be used against targets across Russia, which is a potential game changer for the war effort that U.S. officials have widely acknowledged brings considerable risks of retaliation. The most significant consequence of Britain’s condoning of Storm Shadow strikes deep into Russia may well be to set a precedent for the United States to provide a similar green light preceding large scale deliveries of JASSM missiles for Ukraine’s new F-16 fleet.