Russia’s foreign ministry announced on Friday that it had summoned the British and French ambassadors to protest a Ukrainian attack on the city of Bryansk, reportedly carried out using Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK and France.
The ministry said the envoys were summoned “to lodge a strong protest” over the Tuesday strike, which it claimed “would not have been possible without the involvement of British and French specialists.”
Russia has conducted near-daily drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, while Ukraine has responded with strikes targeting Russian infrastructure.
Ukraine said the Bryansk attack targeted a microelectronics factory producing components for missiles used against Ukraine. Moscow reported that seven people were killed and more than 40 injured, describing the incident as a “terrorist” attack.
“If London and Paris continue to be complicit in the Kyiv regime’s war crimes, these European capitals will bear responsibility for the destructive consequences of the armed conflict and the escalation of tensions,” Russia’s foreign ministry said. It demanded a “clear public response with a strong and unequivocal condemnation” from both countries.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky defended the strike, calling it “a completely justified response to the aggressor.”
This follows a December strike in which Ukraine said it used Storm Shadow missiles to target an oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov region that was supplying Russian armed forces.
