Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Oleksii Reznikov, published a postcard with a Su-24MR aircraft. This Su-24MR was probably rigged with a Storm Shadow cruise missile, which has a distinctive shape. The postcard also bears the emblem of the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade "Petro Franko". It was signed for Ukrainian pilots by the British Defense Minister, Ben Wallace, who arranged for Storm Shadow missiles to be given to Ukraine. "To all the brave ‘few’ who risk all for the glory of Ukraine," Ben Wallace wrote.
Ukrainian Soviet-made bombers have been retrofitted to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles
During their meeting, the ministers also discussed the continued training of Ukrainian soldiers in the United Kingdom and the use of these cruise missiles. Ukrainian pilots were trained in Britain to operate cruise missiles.
"We talked about continuing to train our troops in British territory, about priorities and accents regarding these exercises. We had the opportunity to shake hands with pilots who studied in the UK and have already successfully used weapons called Storm Shadow," Reznikov said.
Ukrainian Soviet-made bombers have been retrofitted to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles
The decision to provide this equipment was adopted after Ukraine’s repeated requests for additional weapons to counter Russian aggression. Earlier, Ben Wallace said that the missiles would give Ukraine the capabilities to draw back the Russian forces stationed within the sovereign Ukrainian territory. He also said that the United Kingdom made this decision after Russia "continued down this dark path" by attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
