This is the moment British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles struck the Kursk region inside Russia today.
The missiles struck a building with an underground ‘control room’ where Russian and North Korean military officials are believed to be holed up, according to Ukrainian defence experts.
Debris from the site of the explosion suggests the missiles were British Storm Shadows, rather than equivalent French SCALP missiles.
A Western official reportedly confirmed that Ukraine had used the missiles to strike into Russia for the first time today, after the US paved the way for Kyiv to launch long-range ATACMS missiles deep into Russia on Sunday.
Up to 12 missiles were launched into the Kursk region, according to Russian reports.
The missiles struck a building with an underground ‘control room’ where Russian and North Korean military officials are believed to be holed up, according to Ukrainian defence experts
Images being shared on social media show what appear to be fragments of a British Storm Shadow missile in Marino, Kursk
‘The only logical explanation for the expenditure of a rather large amount of Storm Shadow / SCALP on such a facility is the presence of the command of the Russian Army group in the Kursk region, together with North Korean generals,’ reported defence expert publication, Defence Express.
‘The Russian Federation began to complain that Ukraine had started using not only ballistic ATACMS, but also Storm Shadow / SCALP cruise missiles on its territory.
‘In particular, there is a video from the Kursk region from the village of Marino. A rather large number of missiles were used for the attack.’
The publication cautioned that the target of the strike remains speculative.
Today’s attack is believed to be the first time Ukraine has used British Storm Shadows to strike into Russia, after the US set precedent with permission for use of ATACMS long-range missiles against Russian targets.
Britain conceded permission to use them against attacks within Ukraine earlier this year. The missiles will allow Ukraine to take out military targets and airbases previously unreachable, capable of hitting hard into Ukraine.
Unconfirmed images and footage posted to X/Twitter today have shown residents in the village of Marino, Kursk, stumbling upon fragments of the missile.
One image shows a resident holding a thick chunk of broken metal in their hand, while another reveals a written indentation reading: ‘Storm Shadow’.
Britain’s Storm Shadow missiles are capable of dodging air defences – making them a nightmare attack weapon for their enemy.
The £800,000 rockets use GPS technology to precisely blast targets, and can travel through the air at 600mph.
Storm Shadow missiles have already been used by Ukraine inside its own territory for some time, but Kyiv now appears to have been granted permission to use the weapons to strike within Russia.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his office would not be commenting on reports or operational matters.
One image shows a written indentation on a chunk of metal reading: ‘Storm Shadow’
The £800,000 rockets use GPS technology to precisely blast targets, and can travel through the air at 600mph
Britain had previously said Ukraine could use Storm Shadow cruise missiles within Ukrainian territory but the government has been pressing the United States for permission to allow their use to strike targets inside Russia for several months.
Starmer yesterday hinted Ukraine would be able to use Storm Shadows as he rebuffed the Kremlin’s scare tactics.
When quizzed on letting Ukraine use the UK-made missiles, the PM said: ‘I’ve been doubling down in my clear message that we need to ensure Ukraine has what is needed for as long as needed to win this war against Putin.
‘I am not going to go into operational details. You would not expect me to. The only winner in that would be Putin and it would undermine Ukraine.
‘The single simplest way to end this conflict is for Russia to stop the aggression and to stop it today. We are on day 1,000 of that aggression’.
Storm Shadow – called Scalp by the French – is a weapon equipped with a navigation system that once launched, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking onto its target using an infra-red seeker.
On the final approach, the missile climbs to a higher altitude to maximise the chances of hitting the target.
On impact, it penetrates the target before a delayed fuse detonates the main warhead.
British Storm Shadow missiles have a range of up to 180miles, meaning Ukraine could now have the ability to strike targets inside Russia.
The UK first confirmed it would supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles in May last year, for use on Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.
Then defence secretary Ben Wallace had touted that the weapons would give Ukraine the ‘best chance’ of defending itself.
Britain’s Storm Shadow missiles are capable of dodging air defences – making them a nightmare attack weapon for their enemy
It comes as Vladimir Putin’s TV propagandists called for Britain to be obliterated with nuclear weapons, amid earlier claims that Ukraine had used Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territoty.
One Kremlin mouthpiece proposed dropping Russia’s Satan-2 missile, widely described as ‘the world’s deadliest weapon’, on Trafalgar Square, while another urged Putin to use the new Poseidon high speed underwater drone and sink the UK under a ‘radioactive tidal wave’.
This came just days after outgoing US President Joe Biden gave war-torn Ukraine permission to use long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia earlier this week.
The decision was a major US policy shift and comes as Biden is about to leave office and President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to limit American support for Ukraine and end the war as soon as possible.
The weapons are thought to be used in response to North Korea‘s decision to send thousands of troops to Russia in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine, according to one of the sources.
Around 10,000 soldiers from the communist regime have joined the fight to reclaim Kursk, which Ukraine seized in a daring counter offensive last August.
Biden hopes that this response will ‘send a message’ to Kim Jong Un not to send any more, sources said.
It comes just a day after Ukraine carried out its first strike on Russian territory with US-supplied long range missiles.
US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is seen in action
Joe Biden finally gave Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky permission at the weekend to use US-supplied missiles in attacks within Russia
A massive explosion at an ammunition depot in Karachev around 75 miles from the Ukrainian border in Russia’s Bryansk region illuminated the night sky yesterday morning on what was the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine.
Eyewitnesses along with Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers first reported the attack, with anonymous Ukrainian military officials later telling the strike was conducted with the US-manufactured ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System).
Following the Ukraine-led attack, and amid growing concerns around a potential WW3, European nations have begun gearing up for an all out war on the continent as Putin officially lowered the threshold for Moscow to consider a nuclear strike.
Germany’s foreign minister yesterday vowed her country ‘will not be intimidated’ by Putin, just one day after German media revealed the nation will transform into a NATO staging ground if the conflict to the East should escalate.
According to a 1,000-page document entitled ‘Operationsplan Deutschland’, Germany would reportedly host hundreds of thousands of troops from NATO countries and serve as a logistics hub for sending huge quantities of military equipment, food and medicine toward the front.
Finland reminded its citizens of their ‘national defence obligation’ and recently launched a new information website, while Sweden laid out a detailed guide on how to seek shelter and what to do in case of a nuclear attack.
Snowflakes are illuminated during live firing of the British Army’s new Archer Mobile Howitzer gun near Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle
British Army soldiers and armoured vehicles are taking part in the Arctic drills
A Swedish artillery team fires a projectile from an Archer self-propelled Howitzer during the NATO ‘Exercise Lightning Strike’ on November 20, 2024 near Heinu, Finland. The live-fire exercise includes service members from 28 Allied and partner nations, and is taking place between November 4 to November 24, across locations in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Romania
The US is also set to provide Ukraine’s army with shipments of landmines to slow the advance of Russian ground troops as Putin’s forces wear down Ukrainian defensive lines in Donetsk.
Officials in Washington confirmed late last night that American anti-personnel mines would be sent to Ukraine on the proviso the punishing weapons are only used to repel Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, NATO is holding its largest-ever artillery exercise just 70 miles from the border where the British Army is testing what military chiefs have described as a ‘game-changing’ weapon.
Finland, which joined the military alliance last year, is hosting up to 3,600 soldiers from 28 nations for the exercise, known as Dynamic Front.
Live fire drills began on Sunday in the northern Lapland region, and are part of a series of exercises, with further ones planned in Estonia, Germany, Romania and Poland.
The British Army is using the opportunity to put its Archer 155-mm guns to the test, weapons which can release high explosive shells or GPS-guided munitions and hit targets 30 miles away.