Kiev’s Use Of British-Made Weapons In Russia’s Kursk Is Already Backfiring

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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

The British Ministry of Defence has announced that Kiev can use British weapons in the attack on Russia’s Kursk region, during which civilians are being killed, with the exception of Storm Shadow cruise missiles, reported the Independent newspaper. However, Kiev always had approval, and rather, the public announcement made by London on August 15 was only made because footage humiliatingly emerged of two destroyed British-made tanks in Kursk.

“There has been no change in UK Government policy, under Article 51 of the UN Charter Ukraine has a clear right of self-defence against Russia’s illegal attacks, that does not preclude operations inside Russia,” the newspaper quoted the British ministry as saying. “We make clear during the gifting process that equipment is to be used in line with international law.”

Thus, anti-tank missiles, artillery, armoured vehicles, and other weapons supplied by the UK to Ukraine may end up in the combat zone in the Kursk region, the article says. However, this does not apply to the Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of 500km, as London has authorised for use only in the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine.

Nonetheless, despite London at this moment in time not allowing the Kiev regime to use Storm Shadow missiles against Russian territory, British ministers are working to convince allies to allow the system to be used against Russian territory, according to The Times.

“Behind the scenes, ministers are trying to persuade allies to approve Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles inside Russia. Governments have so far been reluctant to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons that could, in theory, hit Russian towns and villages because of the risk of escalation,” the newspaper reported.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had received permission from British authorities to use Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia, a claim denied by sources at the British Defence Ministry in a report by The Telegraph. According to the publication, authorisation depends on the UK and two other countries.

Therefore, there is evidently a massive contradiction between the claims made by the Times and Telegraph. Russia’s ambassador to London, Andrey Kelin, clarified the situation and said Moscow is taking into account the UK’s initial position on the use of the missiles, which was announced in May 2023. The head of the Russian diplomatic mission stressed that statements by British officials about Storm Shadow are quite vague, which allows the media to interpret them in different ways.

During his visit to London in July, Zelensky urged the UK to work with Western allies to “remove the limits” on the use of the Storm Shadow missiles and delusionally and/or disingenuously told senior ministers that giving Ukraine “long-range capability” would force Russia to “seek peace,” even though the missiles will not change the course of the war and the fact that it is the Ukrainian president who outlawed negotiations with the Kremlin.

Although Ukraine has used UK-donated Challenger 2 tanks as part of its surprise incursion into Russia, as a UK source has confirmed, the British Ministry of Defence is not officially commenting on what specific UK-made weapons are being used by the Kiev regime. Nonetheless, on August 15, British media were forced to acknowledge that Challenger 2 tanks were being used by Ukraine after footage emerged showing two of the British-made tanks destroyed by Russian forces. This is obviously a major humiliation for London and will likely harden their resolve to eventually approve Ukraine’s use of the Storm Shadow missiles – if Russia does not destroy them first.

It is recalled that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that any shipments containing weapons to Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russia. The Kremlin believes that the supply of weapons to Ukraine undermines the resolution of the conflict, in addition to directly involving the countries NATO and represents a “dangerous game.”

The Storm Shadow missiles will not change the course of the war, i.e. Russia’s eventual victory, but Ukraine would have the capability to terrorize civilians deep in Russian territory instead of just on the border regions. Despite false claims of heroism in Kursk, the Kiev regime is in a desperate situation as Ukrainian forces are on the verge of being encircled and destroyed by the Russian military.

Desperation leads to more foolish decision-making, and the UK can be expected to eventually approve the Kiev regime’s use of Storm Shadows, which will certainly be used almost immediately to terrorize Russian civilians. Epitomizing the desperation is the very fact that the Kiev regime has expended its very limited resources to attack Kursk while the Russian military continues to liberate territory in Donbass without needing to divert soldiers or military equipment. But as seen, the attack on Kursk is already backfiring, on both the Kiev regime and London, as Ukrainian soldiers are being disposed of whilst British-made military equipment are being destroyed.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Russian Army Destroyed One Of Ukraine’s Last British-Made Challenger 2 Tanks In Kursk (Video)
• Russia Threatens Ukraine Over Plot To Attack Kursk Nuclear Power Plant
• Russian Army Hunts Down Kiev Forces In Kursk (Videos)