Ukraine war latest: Ukraine ‘targeted North Korean and Russian personnel’ with British missiles

Yesterday, Ukraine used British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia. 

The UK and Ukraine have not yet confirmed the use of the long-range weapons in Russia but their deployment has been widely reported.

Footage has been posted on Telegram reportedly showing wreckage from one of the missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

Ukrainian outlet Defense Express suggested that the target was near the Baryatinsky Estate in Marino.

It said a military facility near the estate, which was home to the last of the Romanov grand duchesses (Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna), may have been used by Moscow to house North Korean troops. 

Troops were sent from Pyongyang to aid Moscow in re-taking the Ukrainian-occupied Kursk region of Russia earlier this month. 

Defense Express said the use of the missile suggested that higher-profile targets could also have been present, “possibly even North Korean generals”.

“Speculation suggests that a deeply buried military command post, potentially serving as a communications hub, was the primary target,” the report added.

It’s worth treating this report with caution, given it comes from a Ukrainian outlet, but the US-based thinktank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said that the stationing and Russian and North Korean personnel near the estate was plausible. 

“The Ukrainian defence-focused outlet Defense Express suggested was housing a command post for Russian and North Korean troops operating in Kursk Oblast,” it said.

“ISW cannot confirm this claim at this time, but Marino is about 30km from the current Kursk Oblast salient, which would be an appropriate distance for an operational headquarters for troops conducting offensives along the salient.”