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On May 15, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported on the first Anglo-French cruise missile Storm Shadow intercepted in the Donbass. Over the past day, Russian air defense systems intercepted one long-range cruise missile Storm Shadow, as well as ten HIMARS shells, seven US-made HARM anti-radar missiles the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, 21 drones were shot down, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
On the same day, the representative office of the LPR in the JCCC reported that Ukrainian troops fired 3 Storm Shadow missiles and 15 HIMARS missiles in the republic in a week. One person was killed and 16 others were wounded.
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On May 14, Ukrainian media reported that Ukraine received 200 Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the United Kingdom and is set to receive 400 more in the near future. The British and Ukrainian governments have not confirmed the numbers reported by Ukrainian news sources.
The first reported use of Storm Shadow by Kiev was on May 12, when two missiles hit factories in Luhansk city. The very next day, May 13, at least one Storm Shadow hit the old internal affairs academy building in the city, marking the second attack with the long-rang missile.
On May 15, the city of Luhansk was again targeted by Ukrainian forces with missiles. According to preliminary reports, the Storm Shadow missiles were used.
A Storm Shadow missile inside the Royal Air Force museum in London. By Wikimedia user (Rept0n1x).
The Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. The Ukrainian Air Force has reportedly integrated the Storm Shadow on its Soviet-era Su-24 fighter bombers, which have the capability to carry the 1,300 kg cruise missile. With a price tag of 2 million pounds per a single Storm Shadow, the delivery of 600 missiles to Ukraine would cost the UK up to 1,2 billion.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the UK’s decision to transfer long-range missiles to Ukraine another “extremely hostile step” that shows the “unprecedented level of involvement” of London in the conflict. The ministry warned that such a step would lead to a serious escalation of the situation in the conflict zone.
Russia has several options to neutralize the threat posed by the Storm Shadow, from deploying additional long-range air defense systems, like the S-400, in the special military operation zone, to destroying Ukraine’s remaining Su-24 fighter bombers and newly-delivered missiles on the ground.
