{"id":32861,"date":"2026-08-24T21:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/32861\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:11:08","slug":"uk-gives-missile-blueprints-to-ukraine-as-relations-with-russia-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/32861\/","title":{"rendered":"UK gives missile blueprints to Ukraine as relations with Russia collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham<\/a> is handing Ukraine the blueprints to a valuable piece of his country\u2019s military technology, thumbing his nose at a Kremlin that says the United Kingdom is now a party in the conflict.<\/p>\n

The premier, who visited Ukraine for the first time on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>, is handing over data to produce Storm Shadow missiles. Despite rapidly deteriorating relations with Russia, Burnham has doubled down on the U.K.\u2019s support for Kyiv \u2014 claiming his government is prepared to back the Ukrainian forces to the hilt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe friendship between our two countries will long outlast Russia\u2019s illegal war,\u201d Burnham told a crowd in Kyiv. \u201cIn both the fight and in the rebuilding to come, we will stand with Ukraine and deliver opportunities for people across both our countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BurnhamBritain\u2019s Prime Minister Andy Burnham, front left, talks to Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, front right, during the Coalition of the Willing summit in Kyiv, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, during the 35th anniversary of Ukraine\u2019s Independence Day. (AP Photo\/Francisco Seco)<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cRussia should be in no doubt of our resolve. We will not back down until there is a just and lasting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Barros, director of innovation and open source tradecraft at the Institute for the Study of War, told the Washington Examiner that \u201cUkraine needs the ability to intensify its long-range strike campaigns to degrade hardened and specialized military targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the drones that Ukraine uses are not able to damage hardened targets, such as reinforced bunkers, hangars, ammunition depots, and underground infrastructure,\u201d Barros said. \u201cBy receiving the blueprints for Storm Shadow missiles Ukraine will be able to augment its strike packages to go after hardened targets that drones are not able to effectively damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up to this point, the U.K. has been producing Storm Shadow missiles and giving them to Ukraine. With the blueprints, Kyiv will be able to build domestic production of the Storm Shadows, though it is difficult to know how quickly Ukraine will be able to build and initiate the infrastructure for manufacturing the missiles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the gift\u2019s immediate efficacy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Petrov said on Monday that the Russian government views the handover of missile blueprints \u201cextremely negatively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain is participating in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime,\u201d Petrov said from Moscow. \u201cBritain is methodically and consistently adding fuel to the fire \u2014 and methodically and consistently plotting to prevent a peaceful settlement process. That is precisely what Great Britain is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Animosity between the two countries has flared for months, leading to Russian Ambassador to the U.K. Andrei Kelin leaving London<\/a> in July. The Russian embassy warned that despite the diplomat\u2019s \u201cconsiderable efforts to preserve contacts and channels of communication,\u201d the British government was heading down a \u201cpath of confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia said Britain must \u201creconsider its policies\u201d before the ambassador or a replacement returns to the capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe left Britain in the hope that a more constructive and respectful dialogue could eventually be restored, should the UK reconsider its policies towards our country,\u201d a spokesperson from the Russian embassy said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, it emerged that British-manufactured drones<\/a> have been used by Ukraine to hit targets within Russia\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cLondon\u2019s actions will inevitably have consequences, for which it will have to answer,\u201d the embassy warned<\/a>. \u201cThe deeper its involvement in this conflict and the greater its support for the terrorist machine of Kyiv, the higher the price will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s saber-rattling is unsurprising, fitting a pattern of bombastic posturing against Ukraine\u2019s allies across Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoscow\u2019s threatening rhetoric is boilerplate and commonly directed against countries that have supported Ukraine before in this manner,\u201d Barros said. \u201cRussia retains the ability to but remains very unlikely to conduct direct conventional strikes against the UK due to the UK\u2019s own ability to deter such strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StormVisitors watch a Storm Shadow air-launched long range missile by MBDA is displayed at the Paris Air Show , Monday, June 16, 2025 in Le Bourget, north of Paris. (AP Photo\/Michel Euler)<\/p>\n

He clarified that though a conventional attack was highly unlikely, Britain will need to be vigilant against more clandestine hostilities<\/a>, explaining that \u201cmalign actions\u201d have intensified against \u201cseveral NATO states in recent months since late 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK must be prepared for intensified sabotage attacks against UK military, infrastructure, and industrial objects, cyber-attacks, and Russian reconnaissance near the UK\u2019s waters and airspace,\u201d Barros said.<\/p>\n

ANDY BURNHAM INSISTS \u2018ZERO CONSEQUENCE\u2019 FROM FALLING FOR SUSIE WILES IMPERSONATOR AS MINISTERS\u2019 PHONE NUMBERS APPEAR ONLINE<\/a><\/p>\n

Storm Shadows are powerful cruise missiles with a 350-mile range, capable of hitting \u201chard\u201d targets that are too fortified and guarded to be struck by weapons such as drones. They can reach approximately 150 miles into Russia and have previously been used to strike targets like oil refineries and chemical plants.<\/p>\n

France and the U.K. aim to establish a production line <\/a>for the missiles by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Petrov said Monday that the Russian military is \u201ccarrying out the necessary work and gathering the relevant data to identify the production sites for [Shadow Storm] missiles and other military equipment and are taking measures to destroy these facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is handing Ukraine the blueprints to a valuable piece of his country\u2019s military…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4472,64,291,25,6,26,1341],"class_list":["post-32861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-andy-burnham","tag-kremlin","tag-missiles","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}