France and UK authorise strikes deep into Russia with SCALP and Storm Shadow missiles – Le Figaro

The French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Sunday that France and the UK, following the US, had allowed Ukraine to use its long-range SCALP and Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory. The newspaper later changed the text of the report. Source: Le Figaro

Quote: "The French and the British have authorised Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory using their SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles."

Updated: As of Monday morning, this phrase has been changed to read: "The debate was already raging in the offices about allowing the use of Western missiles against Russian territory. Emmanuel Macron spoke in favour of this during his state visit to Germany in May 2024." Details: The publication provides no further details or specific sources for this information.

The broader article focuses on US President Joe Biden's authorisation for Ukrainian forces to launch strikes deep into Russian territory with American ATACMS missiles.

"This decision represents a significant shift in the operations of Ukrainian forces, who are reported to possess more American missiles than Franco-British ones," notes Le Figaro. For reference: Storm Shadow/SCALP is a long-range air-to-ground missile jointly developed by the UK and France and designed to target stationary objectives, including well-protected sites like bunkers, even in adverse weather conditions and at any time of day. The missile's warhead weighs 450 kg.

Storm Shadow missiles can be mounted on Ukrainian Soviet-era jet aircraft. As of Monday morning, this sentence was also missing from the text. Background: 

• Earlier, The New York Times reported that Biden Biden had, for the first time, authorised Ukrainian forces to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory.

  Sources say that these weapons are likely to be initially used against Russian and North Korean troops in Kursk Oblast.

• The report also highlighted that while British and French leaders had expressed support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's request for long-range strikes on Russian territory, they had hesitated to permit their use until Biden agreed to authorise the deployment of ATACMS.
• As per Reuters, Ukraine plans to carry out strikes on Russian territory using American long-range missiles in the coming days.

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