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Kyiv: Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday, the latest new Western weapon it has been permitted to use on Russian targets, a day after it fired US-made ATACMS missiles.
The Biden administration also announced it would give Ukraine antipersonnel mines to help it slow Russia’s battlefield advances, marking the second major shift in US military support for Kyiv in days.
A British Storm Shadow missile in flight.Credit: MoD UK
The strikes by the British missiles were widely reported by Russian war correspondents on Telegram and confirmed by an official on condition of anonymity. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff said he had no information.
Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict. Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow’s invasion, which entered its 1000th day this week.
Accounts of Russian war correspondents on Telegram posted videos they said included the sound of the missiles striking the Kursk region, which borders north-eastern Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has altered its nuclear policy.Credit: AP
At least 14 huge explosions could be heard, most of them preceded by the sharp whistle of what sounded like an incoming missile. The video, shot in a residential area, showed black smoke rising in the distance.
The granting of US antipersonnel mines comes two months before Donald Trump replaces Joe Biden in the White House. Trump has pledged to swiftly end the war and has criticised the amount the US has spent on supporting Ukraine.
The mines are part of a $US275 million ($420 million) package of new military assistance that also includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, 155-millimetre and 105-millimetre artillery rounds, Javelin anti-armour munitions, and other equipment and spare parts.