Russia has issued a menacing warning following Ukraine’s strike on a significant military airfield using suspected British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Reports indicate that the same missiles targeted Sevastopol, the base of Putin’s Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament and a member of the Kremlin’s security council, has threatened to deploy destructive weapons if Elon Musk does not prevent Kyiv’s forces from utilizing his Starlink satellite internet service. Volodin condemned the alleged attack on a dormitory in Starobilsk, stating that 21 children, predominantly girls, were killed by drones in this atrocity.
Volodin blamed the Ukrainian government, particularly President Zelensky, for the incident and warned Musk that his satellites are being misused for harmful purposes. Despite Russia’s own data showing that none of the 21 victims were minors, it is reported that Putin’s forces have caused the deaths of 791 Ukrainian children with 2,752 others wounded during the conflict.
In a tragic event in Starobilsk, Irina Zhivotikova, a 19-year-old student and beauty pageant winner, was among those killed. Ukrainian sources claim the attack targeted the Russian Rubikon military special unit in Starobilsk.
Simultaneously, smoke was observed rising from the ‘Baltimore’ military airfield in the Voronezh region, which houses Russia’s Su-34 fighter-bombers of the 47th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, commonly used for strikes against Ukraine.
Storm Shadow missiles, developed by the UK and France in the 1990s, were reportedly used in these attacks. Launched from aircraft, these cruise missiles have a range exceeding 155 miles and can travel at speeds surpassing 600mph. The same missiles were also involved in the strike on Sevastopol, hitting a building of the Russian Central Bank.
Tuapse experienced a fire near the oil refinery following the fifth recent Ukrainian strike on the Black Sea hub.