Ukraine to ramp up long-range strikes inside Russia amid huge new weapons funding, says UK defence chief

UKRAINE will ramp up long-range strikes inside Russia as billions of pounds of new weapons flood in, Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff says.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin signalled that Britain had no opposition to the attacks on Russian soil.

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He said plane-loads of new western weapons would help the blitzes.

He told a newspaper yesterday: “It’s ability to conduct deep operations will increasingly become a feature of the war.”

It comes after US President Joe Biden signed a £50billion lifeline to buy arms for Ukraine.

But US weapons come with a caveat that they must be used only in Ukraine’s sovereign territory.

Long-range missiles provided by the US were reportedly used last week to strike Russian targets in occupied Crimea.

Britain has pledged more than 1,600 long-range armaments including Storm Shadow missiles and Paveway IV laser-guided bombs.

The UK agreed an extra £500million military aid to Ukraine last week, bringing our contribution to £3billion this year.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine desperately needs more air defences to intercept Moscow’s bombardments.

General Sir Jim Hockenhull, head of the UK’s Strategic Command, also backed Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia — because it was “fighting a war of national survival”.

He said: “The fact that they see military value in attacking the Russians in depth is unsurprising and entirely understandable.”

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