Ukraine carries out its first firing of British Storm Shadow missiles on Russian territory

A salvo of at least twelve British Storm Shadow missiles fell on the Russian village of Marino, in the Kursk region, early Wednesday, November 20, in the afternoon. This is the first use of this weapon by the Ukrainian army on Russian territory. The strike comes two days after Ukraine’s first-ever use of long-range ATACMS missiles supplied by the United States, in a salvo of eight missiles that destroyed the arsenal of the logistics center number 1046 near Karachev, in the Bryansk region.

Several videos of the Storm Shadows strike were published by witnesses Wednesday afternoon on social networks. We hear the characteristic whistle of cruise missiles detonating in turn in an easily geolocatable area. Photos of missile fragments, taken by residents of Marino, seem to confirm that it is indeed Storm Shadow.

We still have little information on the target aimed by the Ukrainian army in Russian territory, other than that it is located on the grounds of a sumptuous palace from the beginning of the 19th century.^e century, known as “Marino, property of the Baryatinskys”. Listed as a national historical and cultural heritage, the building is currently used as a vacation residence by the Russian presidential administration.

Westerners anticipate a response from Moscow

Several hypotheses have circulated in the Ukrainian media about the nature of the target. According to Defense Expressthe eastern part of the site could be a military installation or an integrated command center. Given its geographical location, Marino could be used by the command of the group of Russian troops in the Kursk region – or even by the North Korean generals, due to the presence of the deployment of their soldiers in this same region where the forces from kyiv launched an offensive on August 6. The use of twelve units of these missiles of which Ukraine only has a limited number suggests that the target is of very high value for kyiv.

Generally well informed, the pro-Kremlin Russian military blogger and former fighter bomber pilot Fighterbomber writes on his Telegram channel that “twelve missiles correspond to six planes [capables de porter 2 Storm Shadow chacun]. For example, Su-24s [bombardier dont on sait qu’il a déjà tiré des Storm Shadow] which fired two missiles simultaneously and from the same position. [Détruire] such a number of planes and missiles is a challenge. (…) The flight time of the ATACMS fired [le 19 novembre] to their target in the Bryansk region is two minutes and sixteen seconds. The Storm Shadow’s flight time to their target is between two minutes thirty and three minutes. »

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