Shadow of the Storm.. Russia attacks Britain and America in Ukraine

Russia says it has shot down the first Storm Shadow missile supplied to Ukraine by the United Kingdom, the Independent reported.

At a daily briefing on the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down a cruise missile and a US Himars missile.

Earlier, British intelligence said Vladimir Putin’s air defenses had been “compromised” in an attack on a Russian air base 150km north of the Ukrainian border.

The British Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update today that several drones bombed the Russian air base at Chisha on May 3.

A Russian military transport plane was damaged in the attack.

The Defense Ministry said the Sisha airbase is the center of a free trade zone in western Russia that has played a key role in facilitating Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

Russia also uses the air base to launch a one-way attack aircraft made by Iran towards Kiev.

Britain is the first country to publicly offer long-range cruise missiles to Kiev, which would allow Ukrainian forces to attack Russian forces and supply depots from the front lines as they prepare for a major counteroffensive.

Moscow said on Sunday it had used Ukrainian missiles to attack industrial sites in the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia views Britain’s decision to supply the missiles “very negatively”.

“Britain claims to be the leading source of arms flow into Ukraine,” he told reporters in a daily telephone call.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin told members of the Russian Security Council during their video conference on Monday that they should discuss the benefits of cooperation between countries of the former Soviet Union.

The meeting is usually held on Friday but was shifted for undisclosed reasons.

“We have a common interest with the republics of the former Soviet Union,” he said.

“Today we can talk about what we still need to do and what needs to be done to achieve better results in our joint work,” Putin said in televised remarks to a gathering of senior members of his government.

After Russia’s intervention in Ukraine last year, Moscow’s former Soviet neighbors have become key economic partners as they grapple with Western trade sanctions.