Russia admits Storm Shadow missiles are a nightmare for Putin's forces

Russia admits British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles are a nightmare for Putin’s forces and harder to deal with than US HIMARS

• Close Putin ally Yevgeniy Balitsky, Moscow-appointed head of currently occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, said the weapons are causing ‘trouble’
• his words confirm that the British missiles have been a game changer for Kyiv 

Russia has admitted that British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles are causing a major problem to Vladimir Putin’s forces.

Yevgeniy Balitsky, Moscow-appointed head of currently occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, said the weapons are causing ‘trouble’, and are even more problematic for the Kremlin’s armies than the US-supplied HIMARS systems.

His words confirm the impression that the long-range Storm Shadow has been a game changer for the Ukrainians as Kyiv launches its counteroffensive.

‘They certainly give us trouble with their missiles, I must say, especially Storm Shadow,’ said Balitsky. 

‘We’ve somehow learned how to shoot down [US-supplied] HIMARS.

Russia has admitted that British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles are causing a major problem to Vladimir Putin’s forces. Pictured: An explosion is seen in the occupied port of Berdiansk earlier this month, caused by a Ukrainian attack carried out by a Storm Shadow missile

Yevgeniy Balitsky, Moscow-appointed head of currently occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine (seen with Putin in September), said the weapons are causing ‘trouble’, and are even more problematic for the Kremlin’s armies than the US-supplied HIMARS systems

‘But the [British-supplied] Shadow ones are even harder. They arrive, and have a bigger radius. So it’s a problem for us.

READ MORE: What are Storm Shadow missiles capable of? How many are Britain sending to Ukraine? How much do they cost?

‘In fact, our air defence is having a hard time with [Storm Shadow].

‘It shoots them down, but there’s only a 50 per cent chance of the missiles being shot down.’ He said: ‘Out of four, three have recently reached us.

‘Sometimes two make it. The missile is modern, although it is not the newest, but it is fast enough, it flies properly. I mean, at different speeds, at varying altitudes, changing modes, so it is not easy to shoot down.’

Britain announced the supply of Anglo-French-designed Storm Shadows to Ukraine on 11 May, answering a long-time demand from Kyiv for long-range missiles to help defend their territory against Putin’s invading armies.

This week there were reports that a Storm Shadow missile killed Major-General Sergey Goryachev, 52, in a strike in Zaporizhzhia region.

Other senior Russian officers are also believed to have been killed.

He was Chief of Staff of the Russian 35th Combined Arms Army, and is one of 11 generals reported to have died in the war – and the first this year.

A Storm Shadow six days ago hit a Russian military HQ close to Henichesk on the Arabat Spit, near annexed Crimea.

His words confirm the impression that the long-range Storm Shadow (pictured on display in the RAF museum) has been a game changer for the Ukrainians as Kyiv launches its counteroffensive. The Storm Shadow missiles, accurate to beyond 150 miles, allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian-held territory than was previously the case

Major-General Sergey Goryachev (pictured), 52, died in a strike in Zaporizhzhia region, according to multiple reports. It has been claimed the strike was by a Storm Shadow

Leading Kremlin crony of Putin’s – deputy PM Denis Manturov, 54, had departed minutes before the strike.

‘A Storm Shadow missile hit a few minutes after his departure,’ said one report.

Storm Shadows have also struck occupied port cities Berdiansk and Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, say reports. And the £2.2million-per-unit missiles were used to target Luhansk in the occupied Donbas.

The GPS-guided ground-hugging missiles with a 450kg warhead have a range of around 155 miles. The missiles allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian-held territory than was previously possible.

Storm Shadow is a low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace previously confirmed the missiles had been used by Ukraine on 18 May – but declined to give further details. 

He said the missiles gave the Ukrainians the ability to strike Russian command and control centres which had been moved further behind the front line to keep them out of range of the rocket artillery systems the West had supplied to Kyiv. 

Ukraine is the only country to be publicly supplied with these missiles by the UK.

A graphic showing how the Storm Shadow Missiles work on the battlefield

Britain also became the first country to provide long-range precision missiles to Ukraine with the delivery.

They were also suspected to have been used this month when Russian MP Viktor Vodolatsky sustained injuries after an attack on May 15. 

The missiles were used for the first time operationally by UK forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where they were tested by the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron. 

The RAF and the French Air Force have used them against Isis. Britain also used them against Syrian forces in 2018. 

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