Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin has stated in an interview that Britain’s approval of Ukraine’s use of long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles meant that the country is now “directly involved” in the conflict and at war with Russia.

Many Western allies have recently agreed to give Ukraine the green light to use Western-supplied long-range missiles like the French-British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and the American ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles to conduct strikes inside Russia following months of requests. (Related: West not taking seriously enough the threat of a nuclear attack by Moscow, warns former Russian president.)

On the same day United States President Joe Biden authorized his country’s policy shift, Britain allegedly used Storm Shadow missiles against Russia. Residents in the Russian village of Marino in Kursk claimed to have found fragments from Franco-British Storm Shadow missiles supplied by France and the U.K. to Ukraine.

In his interview with Sky News, Kelin said that Britain allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles has officially dragged the U.K. into the conflict.

“Absolutely, Britain is now directly involved in this war, because this firing cannot happen without NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] staff, British staff as well,” said Kelin. “The U.S. administration, supported by France and the U.K., has made a deliberate decision to make these strikes, which seriously escalates the situation, and it can bring a collision between the nuclear powers.”

Kelin further claimed that the U.K. was “deliberately cheating” Russia since he allegedly received multiple assurances that Storm Shadows would only be used against Russian targets inside internationally recognized Ukrainian territory.

In response to the policy shift, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had tested a new intermediate-range ballistic missile in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, which is near the frontlines.

“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” said Putin. “And in case of escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond resolutely in a mirror way.”

Putin also recently warned of having to use nuclear weapons when the Kremlin approved changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for such a strike.

Keir Starmer: Britain is not at war with Russia

In a response interview with the BBC, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denied Kelin’s claim that the U.K. is at war with Russia, adding that the country will continue to support Ukraine regardless.

“No, we’re not at war, but Ukraine certainly is, because Ukraine has been invaded by Russia, and that war has now been going on for just over 1,000 days,” said Starmer. “That’s 1,000 days of aggression from Russia and 1,000 days of sacrifice for Ukraine, and that is why we’ve said consistently that we stand by Ukraine. We cannot allow Putin to win this war.”

Starmer also claimed that Putin’s threats regarding retaliating against countries that supply Ukraine with weapons and allow them to be used on Russian territory were “irresponsible rhetoric.”

Watch this episode of “The News Hour” as Sky News’ Mark Austin reports on his interview with Andrey Kelin.

This video is from the AllTheWorldsAStage channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

News.Sky.com

LBC.co.uk

Ukrinform.net

Brighteon.com