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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Russia could strike British military targets both inside and outside Ukraine in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russia using British missiles.
Zakharova called on Britain to abandon what she described as "London's hostile stance on war," warning it risked pushing the war to an entirely new level.
At the same Moscow briefing, Zakharova said Britain and France were "playing with fire" by supplying sensitive missile technology to Ukraine.
She said the Storm Shadow episode represented the "quintessence" of London's involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Zakharova recalled that Britain's 2023 decision to supply the missiles to Kyiv was made amid what she called euphoria over a Ukrainian counteroffensive that later failed. She further said that London had at the time sought to reassure Moscow the missiles would only be used on "internationally recognized Ukrainian territory," a position formally recorded in a note from the British Embassy in Moscow.
Zakharova said Britain later avoided answering questions about the missiles' actual use before their use inside Russia became evident, arguing this would have been impossible without direct involvement of foreign specialists operating and targeting the weapons system, as well as intelligence provided by NATO countries to Ukrainian forces.
She cited a May 2024 Reuters interview in which then-U.K. foreign secretary David Cameron said Ukraine had "the right" to strike Russian territory with British weapons "just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine," which she said directly contradicted earlier U.K. assurances and effectively acknowledged Britain as a party to the war.
Zakharova said Russia's military "naturally" would not allow Ukrainian forces to actively replenish their missile arsenal, and that London would not be able to shift responsibility onto what she called "Kyiv puppets" for the consequences.
"We have repeatedly warned that any military facilities and equipment belonging to Britain in Ukraine and beyond its borders could become a response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory using British weapons. Those responsible for committing war crimes, including against our country's civilian population, will be punished according to their actions. Inevitable retribution will catch up with their accomplices and instigators," Zakharova said.
"We are urging all residents of the United Kingdom to think about the unavoidable catastrophic consequences of the hostile moves of their authorities," she said, calling on British leadership to reconsider its "hostile aggressive line," which she said could only prolong what she called the agony of the "Kyiv neo-Nazi regime" and risk shifting the conflict to a fundamentally new level.
The warning came after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Kyiv on Monday and announced the U.K. would release classified information on British-made components of Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, allowing Ukraine to move toward domestic production of the long-range weapons.
The decision authorizes defense company MBDA to share sensitive British technical information, and came during Burnham's first foreign trip as prime minister, on Ukraine's 35th Independence Day.
"Despite Russia's outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine's defense," Burnham said in Kyiv.
France had separately agreed in July to provide Ukraine with blueprints for its SCALP-EG missile, though production depended on Britain's approval to release details of U.K.-made components. Britain became the first country to supply Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine in 2023, and Ukraine first used them against targets inside Russia in 2024 after the Biden administration eased cross-border strike restrictions.
The Trump administration later reinstated and then again lifted that restriction in October 2025.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Tuesday that Ukraine had received confirmation from both Britain and France to proceed with production of the long-range missiles.
"We received confirmation from the U.K. regarding the production of long-range SCALP missiles. Before that, we spoke with (French) President (Emmanuel) Macron, and he confirmed the unlocking of the SCALPs and the license. We will act," Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Kyiv alongside Estonian President Alar Karis.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine expected a schedule within seven to 10 days for the FREYJA project, a European-Ukrainian program to develop an integrated anti-ballistic missile defense system launched in July by a 10-country coalition including Ukraine, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Denmark.
Kyiv aims to have a prototype by mid-2027.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized earlier Britain's decision to share SCALP component technical information, saying it amounted to adding "fuel to the fire" and accusing Britain of participating in the war on Kyiv's side and obstructing peace efforts.
Peskov said Russian forces were gathering intelligence to identify Ukrainian missile-production sites and would take measures to destroy them.
Russia has also criticized Britain over reports that U.K.-made drones were used for strikes inside Russian territory, previously warning London it would pay a "high price."
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