The Pentagon’s Storm Shadow long-range cruise missile

Ukraine Threatens to Attack Moscow and
St. Petersburg To Push Russia to Negotiate
Bohdan Babaiev / Ukraine News

KYIV (August 25, 2024) —Ukraine wants Western approval to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles to target objectives deep within Russia to pressure Moscow into negotiating a ceasefire, according to The Guardian.

Ukrainian officials are contemplating the use of Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles in a demonstration attack to illustrate to the Kremlin that military targets near the Russian capital could be vulnerable to direct hits.

A senior Ukrainian official suggested that Russia might only consider negotiating if it perceives a credible threat to Moscow and Saint Petersburg. However, this strategy involves high risk and is not currently supported by the United States.

“Ukraine has been lobbying for months to be allowed to use Storm Shadow against targets inside Russia, but with little success. Nevertheless, as its army struggles on the eastern front, there is a growing belief that its best hope lies in counter-attack,” The Guardian reports.

The Guardian recalls President Zelenskyy’s Independence Day speech in which he promised retaliation against the aggressor state for missile attacks on civilian areas.

“Our enemy will also know what the Ukrainian retaliation means,” the president said. “Worthy, symmetrical and long-range. They will know that, sooner or later, a Ukrainian response will reach any point in the Russian Federation that is a source of danger to the life of our state and our people,” President Zelenskyy said.

According to The Guardian, Kyiv believes that demonstrating the Ukrainian military’s capability to strike deep into Russia might prompt the Kremlin to reassess its strategy.

“Storm Shadow missiles were developed primarily by an Anglo-French collaboration and are made by European joint venture MBDA, which also has an Italian partner. But because some of its components are supplied by the US, the White House also has to agree to its use inside Russia. It has so far refused to do so, fearing an escalation of the conflict,” The Guardian writes.

American officials told Politico that they believe Storm Shadow missiles and other long-range systems might lack precision over extended distances. They noted that Russian fighters, which have launched glide bombs into front-line areas of Ukraine, were mostly stationed outside the missile’s range as a precaution.

“Although it can be argued that the drone attacks are a substitute, one strand of thinking in Kyiv is that by showing Russia it can strike deep inside the country with missiles, it could prompt a reassessment in the Kremlin. However, few believe President Vladimir Putin is interested in calling a halt,” The Guardian notes.

The Guardian also reminds us that Ukraine has received the export version of Storm Shadow missiles from the UK and France, known in France as SCALP. These missiles have a range of about 190 miles (approximately 305 km), while both the UK and France possess domestic versions with double the range.

Moscow is located approximately 300 miles (about 482 km) from Ukraine’s northern border.

Permission to Strike Russia with Western Weapons
Politico notes that the US is reluctant to jeopardize its security for Ukraine. Granting permission for Ukrainian forces to strike deep into Russia could undermine any potential reset in relations between Washington and Moscow.

Earlier, the Pentagon stated that Ukraine has the right to strike Russian territory but only in specific border areas being shelled by Russians and within a limited distance.

For the past month, the US has not allowed Ukrainian forces to use Storm Shadow missiles against Russian territory.

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Russian Federation
Russian Press Service

Question: How would you comment Ukraine’s demands as set forth in The Guardian? They seek the green light to use the Storm Shadow missiles to target Moscow and St Petersburg as a way to force Moscow to negotiate.

Sergey Lavrov: This is blackmail, an attempt to pretend that the West seeks to avoid any excessive escalation. In reality, they are full of mischief. Avoiding escalation is not what the West is after. To put it into plain language, they are simply picking a fight.

I think that this has become obvious to everyone. I have recently cited John Kirby, who is the White House National Security Communications Advisor. A couple of months ago, he said that escalation would be dangerous, since it would be extremely ill-advised to let the situation slide into a world war and that Europe would be the one to suffer in the process. Recently, John Kirby said this again.

For Americans, any talk about the Third World War comes down to something that would affect Europe alone, and God forbid if it ever happened. This is quite telling, since this idea reflects the mindset of the American planners and geostrategy experts who believe that they can simply sit the whole thing out. I think that it is important to understand in this situation that we have our own doctrine, including the one governing the use of nuclear weapons. An effort to update it is underway.

Moreover, these Americans are well aware of the provisions it sets forth. This fact transpires from the Freudian slips they make when they say that having a third world war would be a bad thing because they do not want Europe to suffer. This is what this American mindset comes down to. They have a mindset of a master sitting somewhere out there overseas and believing to be totally safe and secure, thinking that not only Ukrainians, but also, as it turns out, Europeans would be willing to do the dirty work and die for them.

We have long been hearing speculation about authorising Ukraine to use not only the Storm Shadow missiles, but also US-made long-range missiles. There was an anonymous source in Washington who said that they were working on it. This source purported that their overall view of Ukraine’s request is quite positive. I will stop at that. President Vladimir Putin said all about it quite a while ago.

Now, all we can do is confirm once again that playing with fire is a dangerous thing for the men and women in charge of nuclear weapons across the Western world, but they are playing with matches as if they never grew up.