Ex-Army tank commander: Storm Shadow should be unshackled to help Ukraine in Kursk

The UK is being urged to unshackle the Storm Shadow missiles to let Ukraine operate with them inside Russia's border in Kursk.

Kyiv controls more than 1,200 sq km of Russian territory and has set up a strong foothold in the area, however, many believe the time to introduce the Western long-range missile has come.  

"We need to take the shackles off Storm Shadow and allow them to be used," said military analyst and former tank commander Hamish De Bretton-Gordon.

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"What Storm Shadow does is it keeps the Russians another couple of hundred miles away from Kursk, and elsewhere," said Mr De Bretton-Gordon.

"And the Russians have no rules on them firing missiles and drones from Russia at Ukrainian schools and hospitals across the breadth of Ukraine. It's illogical.

"That would make a difference."

The current policy only allows Ukraine to use the long-range Storm Shadow missile inside its border.

Washington has denied reports that it's blocking the use of Storm Shadow inside Russia, but some believe the weapons could significantly affect the conflict's outcome.

Russia is thought to have re-tasked as many as 5,000 troops away from eastern Ukraine to retake Kursk, but military experts say it would take four times as many troops to stand a chance.  

Mr De Bretton-Gordon said: "Attacking defence, as we've seen in Ukraine, is really difficult. The Kursk operation is the only one that has gained more than a few metres or kilometres of ground.

"You need a 10 to one, 20,000 troops as a minimum with all the accompanying tanks, all the accompanying aircraft, and, of course, the aircraft is key here.

"But Russia has been unable throughout the war to get air superiority, and of course now with the air defence that Ukrainians have in Russia in Kursk itself, they are easy meat."

He added: "Now Ukraine has air defence in Kursk, they have troops, they know their ground, they have great intelligence, and we haven't even seen the F-16s yet which, again, are a marked bit of kit which the Russians are terrified about."