Military analyst Sean Bell told Sky News he believes Vladimir Putin is making mistakes typical of someone without a military background. Returning to Russia's latest attack on Kyiv, local officials have now reported a total of 36 missiles and drones were shot down in and around the city.īut why is Moscow focusing so much of its ammunition on the capital when it is not part of a military strategy? Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that Kyiv would be seeking a "clear" decision on its NATO future at the Vilnius summit. In a separate interview, Mr Wallace said the best way forward as the conflict rages on is to continue to push military aid to Ukraine and help it defeat Russia. "It's not going to happen anytime soon," the defence secretary said. Mr Wallace was more hesitant when asked about Ukraine's potential accession to NATO, saying "we have to be realistic" and that it's "not going to happen" at a summit of the alliance in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July. "You can send young men to die in their tens of thousands, which is what they do, but you can't magic up tanks and weapons systems that they need." "What we've seen on the battlefield is that, if you punch Russian forces in the wrong place, they'll actually collapse," he told the newspaper. Showing an encouraging view towards Kyiv's battlefield efforts, Mr Wallace told the Washington Post the peninsula could return to Kyiv after nine years of Russian occupation as Moscow's forces run out of equipment. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said there is a "real possibility" Ukraine could retake Crimea from Russia this year. Intended targets are command, control and communications centres airfields ports and power stations ammunition management and storage facilities surface ships and submarines in port bridges and other high value strategic targets. The Ukrainians are responsible for targeting priorities, so we do not have details as to how they are exploiting this unique long-range strike capability, but the Storm Shadow's BROACH warhead features an initial penetrating charge to clear soil or enter a bunker, then a variable delay fuse to control detonation of the main warhead. However, the whole process appears to have been completed under Urgent Operational Requirements timelines, and the first missile was reportedly used in anger by the Ukrainians earlier in May. The Storm Shadow is very heavy – the weight of a small car – and of course the Russian-built aircraft must be able to communicate with the UK-designed missile – an interesting technical challenge! One of the challenges was to enable Ukrainian fighter aircraft to carry and launch the missile, a process that in peacetime would take months if not years to complete. The missile can be launched from ships or land, but its range is more limited than when air-launched. However, as confidence grew in Ukraine's military capability, the West supplied longer-range weapons – such as HIMARS – to enable Ukraine to target Russian logistical nodes behind the front line.īut, there were still areas of Russian-occupied Ukraine that were beyond the range of Ukrainian military capability.Įarlier this month, the UK announced that it was providing the Ukrainians the Storm Shadow - a very capable missile with a range of up to 300km, which has been launched from fighter jets with outstanding results in the Gulf War, in Libya, and last year in Syria. He wants to know how Ukraine is utilising the weapon - and our military analyst Sean Bell answers here.Īlthough the Ukrainian military has performed heroically to push back the Russian illegal invasion forces, it is the supply of high-tech Western weapons that has provided Ukraine with an asymmetric advantage.Īt the start of the conflict, the West was uncertain how long Ukraine could resist the larger and more modern Russian military machine. Sky News reader Mike has asked about Storm Shadow, a missile provided by the UK to Ukraine. Our experts have been answering your questions on the war.
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