Moscow’s ambassador to Britain asserted that the United Kingdom is now “directly involved” in the war in Ukraine after Kyiv used British-made Storm Shadow long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia.
In the wake of outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s reported decision to allow Ukraine to use American long-range ballistic missiles to attack the Russian interior, London was seemingly quick to follow suit, with reports this week that Kyiv used UK-made Storm Shadows to hit targets in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces waged a surprise counter-invasion over the summer.
Responding to the reported use of British missiles against the Russian mainland, the Kremlin’s ambassador to London, Andrei Kelin, told Sky News: “Absolutely, Britain and UK is now directly involved in this war, because this firing cannot happen without NATO staff, British staff as well.”
“The US administration, support by France and the UK, has made a deliberate decision to make these strikes, which seriously escalates the situation, and it can bring a collision between the nuclear powers,” he added.
The Russian ambassador went on to claim that he had previously received assurances from Westminster that Storm Shadows would only be deployed within Ukraine and, therefore, accused London of “deliberately cheating” Moscow.
In response, Downing Street said Britain would not be “deterred or distracted by commentary from Vladimir Putin or the Russian ambassador”.
The sabre-rattling comments from the Russian ambassador come after Vladimir Putin announced earlier this week an update to Moscow’s nuclear doctrine. Now, the Kremlin claims that “any attack” on Russia that is sponsored by another nuclear-armed power, including attacks with non-nuclear weapons, would justify a nuclear response from Russia.
Meanwhile, Russia unveiled what it is describing as a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) dubbed Oreshnik, striking Ukrainian targets in Dnipro on Thursday.
Mr Putin claimed that the use of the weapon was justified following Ukraine’s deployment of British Storm Shadows and U.S. ATACMS long-range missiles to strike within Russia, saying: “The regional conflict in Ukraine has acquired elements of a global character.”
According to Russian state media, the Oreshnik is designed to travel at Mach 10 (7,600 miles/12,200km per hour) or around ten times the speed of sound. Kyiv has claimed that the missile that struck Dnipro actually hit speeds of Mach 11.
Russia has asserted that the IRBM is difficult to intercept because of its hypersonic capability, with Putin claiming: “There are no means of counteracting Oreshnik-type complexes in the world.”