Ukraine attacks targets in Russia with UK missiles for the first time

Storm Shadow weapons fired on day Washington shut its embassy in Kyiv

- Dan Sabbagh, Andrew Roth

Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time during the conflict, multiple sources have told the Guardian.

The decision to approve the strikes was a response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops on Russia's border with Ukraine, which UK and US officials said was a significant escalation of the conflict that began nearly three years ago.

The Guardian reported earlier this week that the UK was about to allow Storm Shadow missiles to be used in Russia after the US president, Joe Biden, agreed to do the same for the similar American Atacms weapons.

Videos uploaded to social media and circulated by pro-Russian war bloggers indicated that as many as 12 missiles had struck a target believed to be a command headquarters in the Village of Maryno - the first confirmed use of British weapons on Russian soil during the war.

Ukrainian media reported that the site may have been used by North Korean and Russian officers.

Unconfirmed images distributed via the Telegram messaging app appeared to show fragments of the missile at a location in the Kursk region.

Trevor Ball, a weapons expert formerly ofthe US army, said the images circulating did show Storm Shadow fragments, although he could not verify whether they were new pictures.

The UK offered no official confirmation, although the defence secretary, John Healey, appeared to hint at developments when he spoke to the Commons as reports of the attack in Kursk began to circulate.