A Russian military base has allegedly been destroyed in a long range attack by the Ukrainian military as reports suggest they used British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to successfully strike the site. Three huge columns of smoke could be seen rising from the debris of the “Luhanskteplovoz” Complex, located in the most southeasterly region of Ukraine, Luhansk Oblast, deep in Russian-occupied territory.
Locals reported hearing “planes flying low” in the sky before “a series of dull explosions” resonated through the area.
Footage of the aftermath of the explosion appeared online in the early hours of Thursday (June 8) as commentators speculated on what Ukraine had used to carry out the attack.
Russian-affiliated Telegram channels claimed that three to four UK-supplied Storm Shadow long range missiles were used to carry out the attack.
Supplied last month, the systems roughly tripled the range of the weapons available to Ukraine; prior to the Storm Shadows, the defending forces were resigned to US-supplied HIMARS, which could not exceed 50 miles.
While it is not confirmed that Storm Shadows were used in the attack on Thursday, the “Luhanskteplovoz” Complex is roughly 85 miles from the frontline.
If the attack was carried out by missiles, as opposed to drones, and by the Ukrainian Armed Forces as opposed to anti-Russian sabotage groups, only the Storm Shadow’s could have reached that far into the occupied territory.
It has been reported that a Ukrainian SU-24M bomber was responsible for firing at least two of the missiles.
One witness to the attack said: “I first heard sounds in the sky. It seemed that the planes were flying low, but then there was a series of dull explosions. A few minutes later, it exploded a couple more times.”
The attempts by Russian air defences to shoot down the rockets are said to have been futile.
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It marks the fourth successful strike on Vladimir Putin’s military in the Luhansk region in the last month.
The occupied city is the largest in the Luhansk Oblast, one of four Ukrainian regions the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed late last year.
Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass reported that “several explosions” erupted as Ukraine launched rocket fire on Thursday.
The war-torn nation is believed to be making the most of the British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles ahead of its counter-offensive.
