Russia Threatens to Strike UK Over Storm Shadow Use
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- Maria Zakharova warned Moscow could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine if Kyiv keeps firing UK-made cruise missiles — the strongest direct threat to Britain to date.
- London was "one step away" from being legally complicit in "terrorism" against Russian civilians, with "catastrophic consequences" unless Britain reversed course, Zakharova said.
- The warning came a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of firing British Storm Shadow missiles at a shopping centre in Russian-controlled Donetsk, which Russia said wounded civilians including children.
- The Kremlin had accused Britain of adding "fuel to the fire" after London announced Kyiv could locally build Storm Shadows; France has already agreed to license the same technology.
- Russia launched an overnight barrage hitting ports, grain storage, energy, and industry across Ukraine with ballistic, hypersonic missiles, and drones, per Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
- Ukraine's air force downed seven ballistic missiles, one anti-ship cruise missile, and nearly 90% of incoming drones; strikes killed one person in Kharkiv and injured others across Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, and Zaporizhzhia.
Why it matters: Britain now faces the most explicit direct threat from Moscow since the war began, over a weapons-supply decision that already extends to France's local production of Storm Shadow missiles. The Donetsk civilian-casualty framing gives Russia a rhetorical basis for retaliation, while Ukraine absorbed strikes on nine cities overnight — one dead in Kharkiv, infrastructure hit in Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, and Zaporizhzhia.
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