Ukraine uses UK-made Storm Shadow missiles to hit Russian chemical plant

Ukraine hit a Russian chemical plant with Storm Shadow missiles, the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday, citing the British-made long-range weapon.

Describing the attack as a “successful hit” that penetrated the Russian air defense system, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said they were still evaluating the outcome of the “major” attack.

Hours later, Russia launched a heavy drone and missile attack on several parts of Ukraine, killing six people, including two children, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In addition to Kiev, there were emergency power outages in the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and reports indicated that Russia was targeting thermal power plants.

Authorities said two people were killed in attacks on the capital, while a woman and two children were killed in the wider Kiev area.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have yet to comment on the attack on the Bryansk chemical plant, despite warning the West not to supply long-range missiles to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military said it was imperative to target Russian facilities that play a key role in Moscow’s war against Ukraine: “The Bryansk Chemical Plant is an important facility of the military-industrial complex of the aggressor state,” it said in X.

The statement added that the facility “produces gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components used in munitions and missiles used by the enemy to bombard Ukrainian territory.”

The attack came on the same day that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders vowed to “increase the pressure on Russia’s economy and defense industry” until Russian leader Vladimir Putin was “ready to make peace”.

In the joint declaration signed by Ukrainian, German, French, Italian, Polish, Danish, Finnish, EU and Norwegian leaders, it was stated that “Ukraine should be in the strongest position before, during and after any ceasefire.”

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday that debris from Russian night attacks had severely damaged some buildings in the capital.

Timur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said two people died in the capital.

Eyewitnesses heard explosions that sounded like air defense units in action, Reuters news agency reported.

The last attacks came after a while Meeting at the White House last week In the conflict between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US leader stated that he was not ready to provide Kiev with the sought-after Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Trump initially agreed with Putin to hold talks in Budapest regarding the war in Ukraine, possibly in the coming weeks. But that plan was put on hold Tuesday, with Trump saying he didn’t want a “wasted meeting.”

In his speech at the White House, the US president said Moscow’s refusal to stop fighting on the current front line remained a major sticking point.

Just last month, Trump appeared to make a major shift in his stance on ending the war, saying Kiev could “regain all of Ukraine in its original form,” a reference to Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.

Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Moscow’s southern Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.