Ukraine Eyes Storm Shadow Boost from NATO Ally

Ukraine could soon receive Storm Shadow air-launched land-attack cruise missiles from its NATO ally Italy as part of a new military aid package, according to a report.

A ninth military aid package from Italy to Ukraine amid Russia's full-scale invasion of the country will contain a SAMP/T anti-aircraft defense system, as well a batch of long-range Storm Shadow missiles, authoritative sources familiar with the matter told the local Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper in an article published on Tuesday.

Newsweek has contacted the defense ministries of Russia and Italy for comment by email.

To date, the U.K. and France have provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, which have an official range in excess of 155 miles, and are equipped with a 450-kilogram (950-pound) warhead that can be deployed against fixed targets.

Kyiv has so far used the weapons to target key Russian assets, including a warship and the Rostov-on-Don submarine, based at the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, in September 2023.

Italy's latest package will be presented to the parliamentary intelligence oversight committee by defense minister Guido Crosetto by the end of the month.

Timothy Wright, a research associate for Defence and Military Analysis with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), notes that the Storm Shadow missile provides Ukraine with an "improved capability to hold at risk high-value targets in occupied territory, such as Russian airfields, logistics hubs and command-and-control nodes, some of which have hitherto been beyond the range of Western-supplied guided weaponry."

There has been a growing chorus of calls for Ukraine to be authorized to use Western weapons to attack targets inside Russia, more than two years into the war launched by Moscow in February 2022. Several NATO members have already given Kyiv the green light to strike Russian territory using weapons they have provided.

In May, U.K. Foreign Minister David Cameron suggested allowing Ukraine to use British weapons for strikes on Russian soil.

"Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Cameron said in May.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine against using long-range weapons provided by NATO members to strike his country. He said last month that doing so could trigger "a global conflict."

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