These images purport to show a British Storm Shadow missile that was downed in Ukraine and retrieved by the Russian side, with officials now saying it has been taken to Moscow to be studied.
Russia Says It Has Begun Studying British Storm Shadow Missile Downed In Ukraine pic.twitter.com/vkvFgtQXMW
— NewsX (@newsx_media) July 11, 2023
The video shows what appears to be a damaged missile being prepared to be moved, with a man who appears to be a Russian soldier seen handling some straps to secure it.
Russian media are reporting that Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told Russian state news agency TASS that the missile was delivered from the Zaporizhzhia region to Moscow where experts have begun to study it.
Rogozin reportedly said: “The military-industrial complex is studying it.”
Rogozin had previously told TASS that Ukraine had tried to prevent the downed missile from being evacuated from the front lines by using heavy artillery and a sabotage and reconnaissance group.
The ex-head of Roscosmos also reportedly said that he hoped that Russian experts would be able to study the missile quickly and “find an antidote for our air defense and pacify the British-French storm”.
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 502nd day of the full-scale war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February 2022 and 10th July 2023, Russia had lost about 234,480 personnel, 4,085 tanks, 7,966 armoured combat vehicles, 4,371 artillery units, 668 multiple launch rocket systems, 414 air defence systems, 315 warplanes, 309 helicopters, 3,686 drones, 1,271 cruise missiles, 18 warships, 6,937 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 632 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
US President Joe Biden has said that Ukraine is “not ready” to become a member of NATO.
Speaking after arriving in London ahead of a two-day NATO summit in Vilnius, Biden said that the alliance needs to “lay out a Russian path” for Ukraine to follow.
But he added that it would take some time before Kyiv met “all the qualifications, from democratisation to a whole range of other issues.”
The US president is set to discuss Ukraine with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said that while he does not expect Ukraine to join NATO until after the war with Russia is over, he hopes the summit will provide a “clear signal” on the alliance’s intention to bring Ukraine into the fold.
The White House has said that Biden spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone and “conveyed his desire to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible.”
Erdogan’s office has reportedly said that Sweden still needs to crack down further on suspected Kurdish militants for Turkey to support its motor membership bid.
The American and Turkish presidents are reportedly set to meet on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.
The NATO summit comes as a number of countries and organisations including the US Democratic Party and the United Nations have raised questions about the White House’s decision to provide Ukraine with cluster bombs, which have been banned by over 100 countries.
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said that his country could not “block” the Americans from sending cluster bombs to Ukraine but he also said that he was against using the weapon.
He said: “Germany’s position against the use of cluster munitions is as justified as ever. But we cannot, in the current situation, block the United States.”
