[arista]

Frank Gardner BBC
Security correspondent

[Just how much difference will it make to
the war in Ukraine if the US does allow
Kyiv to fire long-range missiles into Russia?
And is it really the escalation Putin claims it to be?

Short answer: some, but not much.

Ukraine does not have many Storm Shadow
missiles and Britain does not have many
more to give, so the numbers are quite small.
It has already been using them, with
Western help in geospatial targeting,
against targets in Russian-occupied Ukraine,
notably Sevastopol in Crimea.

Justin Crump, from Sibylline risk
consultancy, points out that since
Moscow formally annexed those
territories then, in the Kremlin’s view,
Ukraine has already been firing these
missiles into Russia.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
has identified around 200 Russian
bases that would be in range of Storm Shadows
fired from Ukraine.

Some further additional bases would come
into range if the US approves the use
of ATACMS missiles in Russia.

But it has been widely reported that,
in anticipation of this permission being
given,
Russia has already moved the bulk
of its air assets and ammunition
deeper into Russia,
beyond the range of Ukraine’s missiles.]



[The UK Foreign Office has called
Russian allegations of spying against
British diplomats "completely baseless"
Moscow stripped six officials of their
accreditation - the BBC understands
the diplomats involved left Russia
many weeks ago

Meanwhile, UK PM Sir Keir Starmer
is in Washington, and will meet
US President Biden later]



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c7858qqzyv8t