RUSSIA has admitted Britain’s Storm Shadow rockets are a nightmare for invaders in Ukraine.
The bunker-busting cruise missiles are dodging their air defence systems and paving the way for Kyiv’s counter-offensive.
Yevgeniy Balitsky, Kremlin-appointed governor in occupied Zaporizhzhia, said the weapons “certainly give us trouble”.
He added: “We’ve somehow learned how to shoot down US-supplied HIMARS, but our air defence is having a hard time against Storm Shadow.
“It flies at different speeds, at varying altitudes, changing modes.”
He spoke days after a precision Storm Shadow strike was reported to have killed Major-General Sergey Goryachev, 52, and eight other top officers in a pinpoint strike on a Zaporizhzhia command post.
Last week, another hit a Russian HQ near Henichesk minutes after Vladimir Putin’s deputy PM Denis Manturov had left.
The air-launched GPS-guided missiles — which have a range of up to 320 miles and can fly in zig-zags at varying altitude — have also blasted occupied port cities Berdiansk and Mariupol.
Britain announced the supply of Anglo-French-designed Storm Shadows last month after pleas from Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky for a sophisticated longer-range weapon.
Defence analyst Paul Beaver told The Sun: “Storm Shadow is giving Ukraine a very significant advantage — and I don’t believe Russian claims that 50 per cent of them are being stopped.
“They can fly around targets before striking to totally blindside enemy forces.”
Nick Parker
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