British missiles used by Ukraine in port raid

Ukraine has fired British Storm Shadow missiles at an occupied port used by the Kremlin to export stolen grain, according to Russian officials. Video posted on Telegram showed at least one large explosion consistent with a missile strike on the port area of occupied Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, 65 miles behind the front line. The missiles have been used to hit supply depots and command posts in Luhansk, as well as at least one previous strike on Berdyansk.

Storm Shadow attack on occupied city part of Ukraine’s ‘shaping strategy’ ahead of counter-offensive

UKRAINE has fired British Storm Shadow missiles at an occupied port used by the Kremlin to export stolen grain, according to Russian officials.

Video posted on the Telegram social messaging app showed at least one large explosion consistent with a missile strike on the port area of occupied Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, 65 miles behind the front line.

“Information on the fatalities is being clarified,” Vladimir Rogov, a Russiainstalled official in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, said on the Telegram messaging app. He shared the footage of a large plume of smoke rising from the port.

“Three to six Storm Shadow missiles hit the city. According to some reports, four people were injured as a result of the strike,” the Rybar Telegram channel told its 1.3 million subscribers.

Ukraine has only been able to hit Berdyansk since last month when the British Government handed over Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have a range of up to 200 miles.

The missiles are fired by Ukraine’s warplanes and have already been used to hit supply depots and command posts in Luhansk, as well as at least one previous strike on Berdyansk.

Military analysts have said that strikes on Berdyansk were part of Ukraine’s “shaping strategy” ahead of its expected counter-offensive.

The Kremlin has exported tons of stolen Ukrainian grain through Berdyansk to allied countries, such as Syria. A Russian blockade of Ukraine’s ports last year threaten to trigger a famine in Africa until the UN stepped in to negotiate a deal but this appears to be unravelling.

On Thursday, Ukraine accused Russia of undermining the deal because of its “unjustified refusal to register the incoming fleet” into three Ukrainian ports.

Russian officials instead said that Ukraine’s refusal to reopen a pipeline pumping ammonia, a fertiliser, from central Russia to the Black Sea coast, had caused the grain deal to falter.

In southern Russia, local media reported that thousands of people were fleeing sustained shelling of the town of Shebekino and outlying villages along the Ukrainian border.

Russians allied to Ukraine had attacked the area on Thursday, triggering a battle with Russian forces and destroying several buildings.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region, said that there were now 2,500 people who had fled Shebekino and villages along the border with Ukraine living in temporary accommodation in Belgorod City.

Hundreds of people are also being sent to neighbouring cities and regions.

“Of course, conditions are difficult,” Mr Gladkov said. “These are huge sports facilities with hundreds of beds where both adults, children, the elderly, and the young sleep.”

Two women were killed when a shell hit the car they were travelling in to escape from Shebekino and shops damaged by shelling have been looted, Russian media also reported.

Video uploaded on to the Telegram social messaging system showed burning buildings that commentators said had been hit by shells today and hundreds of cars queuing along country roads.

Many people were angry at what they viewed as the Russian military’s failure to defend the country’s border and officials’ failure to organise a proper evacuation.

“A shell fell not far from our house, all the windows flew, it was very scary,” said one woman who had escaped to Belgorod City with her cat, Felix.

‘Three to six Storm Shadow missiles hit the city. According to reports, four people were injured’

There were also reports that order had broken down in Shebekino.

A local Telegram channel posted a video of the smashed-up glass door of an abandoned supermarket in the centre of the town.

“We have previously received reports of possible looting but we are writing about it only now,” Club_Shebekino reported.”