Russia alleges British supplied missiles have injured children

 This report is taken from Russia Today, dated 14th May. 

As as already been pointed out in a previous SOYMB post, Russia Today, is, ‘a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government.’ Wiki. Truth, as it has been said, is the first casualty of war. The reader must therefore judge the veracity of this report.

However, should there be any accuracy in the statement issued then the potential consequences have it has to be of grave concern to everyone who opposes armed conflict wherever it occurs in the world.

Luhansk Lugansk is a city in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be 397,677 (2022 est.),making Luhansk the most populous city in the In 2001, nearly half of the population was ethnically Ukrainian, and 47% was ethnically Russian.

Luhansk serves as the administrative center of Luhansk Oblast, although the  Ukrainian administration was relocated to Sievierodonet when the war in Donbas broke out following-Russian unrest and the proclamation of the Luhansk People's Republic. In 2022, Russia declared its annexation of the region. Wiki.

“Ukraine’s military used UK-supplied long-range missiles to target civilians in the Russian city of Lugansk, resulting in several children being injured, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence and local authorities.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said that a Ukrainian air strike on the Poly-pack food processing factory and the Milam home goods store in central Lugansk a day earlier had used Storm Shadow missiles. The attack came despite London’s assurances that those weapons would not be used to target civilian facilities, it claimed.

Several houses were damaged and a number of people, including six children, were wounded, the ministry stated, adding that Russian aircraft shot down the Ukrainian Su-24 bomber that had conducted the strike on Lugansk, as well as an MiG-29 fighter accompanying the aircraft.

Initially, the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), which tracks Kiev’s attacks on the Donbass, identified the projectiles that hit Lugansk, which had long been considered to be out of range of Ukrainian artillery, as Grom missiles.

Later, however, it clarified that the strike involved two Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles and a US-made ADM-160B decoy missile.

On Saturday, the JCCC claimed that Kiev fired another Storm Shadow at the village of Yubileiny, west of Lugansk. It added that the strike injured one elderly woman, damaged windows in seven houses while wrecking 25 garages, 15 cars, and a power line.”

The Lugansk People’s Republic, along with three other former Ukrainian territories, was incorporated into Russia last autumn following public referendums that saw the local population overwhelmingly support the move.

On Thursday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed earlier media reports that the UK had provided Ukraine with low-observable Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250km (150 miles). The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the move as an “extremely hostile step by London” that “clearly confirms the unprecedented level of British involvement” in the conflict.”