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Moscow has threatened the UK with “consequences” after reports that British drones have been used to strike targets on Russia’s mainland for the first time.
Ukraine used drones made by two UK companies as part of a so-called deep-strike campaign, the Sunday Times reported.
Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones increasingly targeting military industries and energy facilities.
It has also targeted giant depots for Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, burning billions of pounds’ worth of merchandise and bringing the war home to the Russian public more than four years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s embassy to the UK said in a statement on Monday that the reports “confirm that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis” and accused Britain of “seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy”.
“London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,” it said. “The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kyiv’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and we are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion.
“Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this government to stand against Russian aggression, in Ukraine and against the UK and our allies.”
Ukraine’s strategy of long-range drone strikes is thought to be intended to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russian citizens feel the impact of the invasion.
It launched three times as many such strikes in July as it did in January, according to data from Acled, an independent conflict monitor.
Repeatedly hitting deep into Russia has forced Moscow to stretch air defences over a larger area. Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that it had shot down 598 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions as well as the Black Sea, the Azov Sea and the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Officials said on Monday that Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russia killed seven people overnight, while five civilians died in Ukraine after strikes by Moscow’s forces.
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Russian missile attacks on Tuesday killed 10 people and injured a eight in a village in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv oblast, the regional governor said.
The strike on the village of Pechenihy damaged 10 private buildings, a cafe, a post office, a shop and at least seven cars, Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.
A rapid development of largely homegrown technologies, including the Flamingo cruise missile and the FP-1 long-range fixed-wing drone from Fire Point, have allowed Ukraine to bomb warehouses, oil refineries, ports and military facilities up to 1,500 miles (2,400km) from its border.
Ukraine can now almost match the deep-strike capability that Russia has had since the beginning of the war using large drones and cruise missiles, though it does not possess the high-speed ballistic missiles that Moscow frequently uses.
At the same time, both sides’ air defences are stretched to the point of near exhaustion, leading to a rise in civilian casualties and worries that the impact of the conflict beyond the immediate frontlines will only increase into the winter.
