British PM Condemns Russian ‘Threats’ As UK Deepens Ukraine Missile Support (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – British Prime Minister Andy Burnham accused Russia on Monday of “outrageous threats” against the United Kingdom after Moscow warned that his decision to provide Ukraine with newly declassified blueprints for the production of long-range missiles would escalate the war.

Burnham compared Ukraine’s struggle to Britain’s fight against Nazi Germany during World War Two. “My nation kept the flame of European freedom alive in the 20th century, you hold that flame in the 21st,” Burnham said in a speech in front of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the capital, marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

“Despite Russia’s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine,” he said.

On his first trip abroad as prime minister, Burnham announced that Britain would allow previously classified information about British-made components of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp long-range cruise missiles to be shared to help Ukraine eventually produce its own version.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move would add “fuel to the fire” and undermine efforts toward a negotiated settlement. “Britain is involved in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime,” Peskov told reporters.

RUSSIA TARGETS MISSILES

Burnham hit back shortly after his speech. “Who started the fire? That’s the question, isn’t it?” he said.

The British leader was also due to join a conference call with leaders of the “coalition of the willing,” countries that have pledged to help secure Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace agreement with Russia.

Moscow warned that it would identify and destroy Ukrainian locations used to manufacture the missiles, further raising tensions between Russia and Britain as relations between the two countries have fallen to their lowest level in decades.

Burnham said Ukraine had endured years of Russian aggression, beginning with the occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014 and followed by Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“You have stood tall and defiant in the face of everything Russia has thrown at you,” Burnham said. “And you have taken your place as a proud, sovereign European nation, a vibrant democracy with a bright future ahead.”

BRITON KILLED FOR RUSSIA

His comments came as it emerged that a British national had been killed while fighting on Russia’s side against Ukraine, underscoring the increasingly international dimensions of the conflict.

Bradley Townsend, a 33-year-old fisherman from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was killed in June by a Ukrainian first-person-view drone near Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region. He is believed to be the first British volunteer known to have died while fighting for Russian forces in the war.

Townsend had traveled to Russia in April and joined its armed forces despite having no previous military experience. He said he wanted to repay what he viewed as a historic debt to the Donbas because miners there had supported striking British miners during the 1980s.

“I came with the idea that I probably wouldn’t be able to go home,” Townsend wrote on social media before his death, acknowledging that he could be killed.

Conservative lawmaker and former security minister Tom Tugendhat said he was “very sorry for him and his family” but described Townsend’s decision to join Russia’s military as “unbelievably stupid.”

UKRAINE STRIKES BACK

The developments came as Ukraine intensified attacks deep inside Russia, targeting four logistics hubs belonging to Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online retailer, in an expanding drone campaign against commercial infrastructure Kyiv says supports Moscow’s war effort.

Ozon said its logistics center in Makhachkala, Dagestan, caught fire after a drone attack and several people were injured. Another large fire erupted at a facility in Enem near Krasnodar, while workers were evacuated from warehouses elsewhere in southern Russia.

The latest attacks brought the number of Ozon facilities targeted to six within three days, after Ukraine previously concentrated strikes on rival online retailer Wildberries.

Ozon shares plunged on the Moscow Exchange following the attacks, while shares in its major shareholder, private equity firm AFK Sistema, also fell sharply.

Kyiv says the campaign is intended to disrupt logistics supporting Russia’s military, weaken the economic infrastructure financing the war and bring the consequences of the conflict closer to Russians far from the front lines.

KYIV’S ECONOMIC WARFARE

Ukraine has also repeatedly targeted Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure, contributing to fuel disruptions and increasing pressure on an economy already strained by years of warfare and Western sanctions.

Russia has condemned the attacks on commercial infrastructure and accused Kyiv and its Western supporters of escalating the conflict rather than pursuing peace.

However, Moscow also continued large-scale missile and drone attacks against Ukraine, where authorities say strikes have hit energy facilities, warehouses and residential areas and caused mounting civilian casualties.

Kyiv has warned that Russia is accumulating additional ballistic missiles while Ukraine faces shortages of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors needed to defend against them.

The escalating long-range attacks on both sides, combined with Britain’s decision to help Ukraine develop its own missile-production capability, underscored concerns that the war is increasingly extending far beyond the front lines.

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