The Kremlin on Wednesday accused British specialists of involvement in a deadly Ukrainian strike on the Russian city of Bryansk that used British Storm Shadow missiles and said it would take Britain's role "into account".
The Bryansk regional governor said Tuesday's strike killed at least six civilians and injured 37 in what he called a "terrorist missile attack", without saying what was hit. Ukraine said it had struck a key plant producing missile components. Moscow accused it of deliberately targeting civilians.
Asked by Reuters if there would be a military response to the use of British missiles against sovereign Russian territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take into account the British involvement.
"It is obvious that the launch of these missiles was impossible without British specialists," Peskov told reporters. "We are aware of this, we know it well, and we naturally take it into account."
"In order to prevent such barbaric actions by the Kyiv regime from continuing, the special military operation is being conducted," he said, adding that one of the goals of the operation was to demilitarise Ukraine.
There was no immediate comment from London, though Russia has repeatedly said that Ukraine needs Western expertise and Western-supplied targeting data and satellite imagery to fire advanced missiles deep into Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv had struck one of the most important military factories in Bryansk that produced electronics for Russian missiles.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the strike was premeditated and directed against civilians, and challenged the U.N. to assess what had occurred.
