(Reuters) – Russia’s Defence Ministry said for the first time on Monday that it had downed a long-range Storm Shadow missile supplied to Ukraine by Britain, which announced last week that it was providing them.
The ministry said in its daily briefing on the Ukraine conflict that it had shot down the cruise missile, as well as shorter-range U.S.-built HIMARS-launched and HARM missiles. Reuters was unable to verify the reports.
Britain is the first country to publicly supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply depots far behind the front lines as it prepares a major counteroffensive.
Moscow said on Sunday that Ukraine had used the missiles to strike industrial sites in the Russian-controlled city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia viewed Britain’s decision to supply the missiles “extremely negatively”.
“Britain claims to be at the forefront among those countries that continue to pump weapons into Ukraine,” he told reporters in a daily call.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
