BUNKER busting British stealth missiles have smashed through Putin’s air defences in a “massive attack” on Russian soil.
A volley of Storm Shadow missiles hit an explosives factory on Tuesday, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.
The first time the British made missiles hit Russian soil last year Moscow hit back within hours with its nuclear capable Oreshnik.
Ukraine’s mega-blitz on the Bryansk Chemical Plant, some 80 miles inside Russia, was described as a “disaster” by a pro-Kremlin war channel.
Tuesday’s strike came after Defence Secretary John Healey warned Putin sees Britain as his “number one enemy”.
The British made Storm Shadow missiles are the most powerful offensive weapon donated to Ukraine.
The air launched cruise missiles have range of over 150 miles and are designed to fly low, hugging the terrain to avoid radar and air defences, before soaring over their targets to blitz them from above.
Kyiv’s armed forces said: “A massive combined missile and air strike was carried out, including the use of air-launched Storm Shadow missiles which successfully penetrated the Russian air defence system.”
In a statement, Ukraine said the blitz involved air force jets, as well as “land forces, the navy and other units.”
They added: “The plant produces gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components used in ammunition and missiles employed by the enemy to shell the territory of Ukraine.”
Kyiv said its forces were still assessing the damage last night.
A pro-Putin war blogger described the strike as a “disaster”.
The use of British missiles is expected to trigger fresh threats from the Kremlin.
Britain donated Storm Shadow missiles in 2023 and allowed Ukraine to fire them at targets on Russian soil last year.
Russia responded by attacking Dnipro with an experimental Oreshnik ballistic missile.
It flew to edge of space before hurtling down on a plant in Dnipro at speeds of 13,000mph.
Putin is thought to have 10 in his arsenal and boasted he could use them to turn Ukraine, “to dust”.
The strike was move condemned as “insane” by Ukraine and “depraved” by the UK.
France has also given Ukraine its equivalent of the Storm Shadow, known as Scalp.
But Germany has resisted pressure to send its even more powerful Taurus missile.
President Trump had threatened Russia with the prospect of giving Tomahawk cruise missiles which have a maximum range of 2,500km – almost ten times further than Storm Shadow.
Ukraine first hit Russia with in November in defiance of President Putin’s threats to reply with nuclear weapons.
The strike into Russia’s Kursk province came 24 hours after Ukraine fired US made ATACMS ground launched missiles into Russia.
In both cases, the decision to let Ukraine was made by the United States, under President Biden administration, to let Ukraine use the weapons.
Britain had backed the move for months.
Bryansk strike
Footage from the Bryansk region showed a massive fireball lighting up the night sky — flames engulfing what appeared to be a sprawling industrial complex.
Regional governor Alexander Bogomaz admitted Ukraine had attacked with “drones and missiles” but claimed there were no casualties.
Russia’s Defence Ministry insisted its air units shot down 57 Ukrainian drones within hours — a boast Kyiv dismissed as routine Kremlin spin.
The target, the Bryansk Chemical Plant, is a key cog in Russia’s war machine — producing explosives, propellants and rocket fuel for missiles raining down on Ukrainian cities.
Military analysts said the strike not only shredded a vital supply chain but sent a “psychological shockwave” through Russia’s border regions, proving that even deep inside the country, nowhere is truly safe.
Putin’s propagandists were left reeling.
One Telegram channel raged that the “enemy has struck a disaster blow,” while others fumed that Moscow’s air defences were “sleeping.”
Inside the Kremlin, fury is brewing.
Moscow has already hinted at retaliation using its much-vaunted hypersonic Oreshnik system — a weapon that can fly at 16 times the speed of sound and evade interception.
A source close to Russia’s security council told state media the attack “will not go unanswered.”
Western defence chiefs are braced for an escalation.
“This is exactly the kind of event that could push Putin toward a dramatic show of force,” one Nato official said.
For now, Ukraine’s British-supplied Storm Shadows are doing the heavy lifting — proving once again that Western firepower remains Putin’s nightmare scenario.
“The Storm Shadow is rewriting the rules,” said one senior Ukrainian officer.
“It’s forcing Russia to defend everywhere at once — and that’s something even Moscow can’t afford to do forever.”
Putin-Trump summit collapse
DONALD Trump’s planned talks with Vladimir Putin in Hungary have collapsed, White House officials confirmed.
A senior aide said “there are no plans for a meeting” after Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s sit-down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was abruptly scrapped.
Instead, the two spoke by phone — a conversation both sides later described as “constructive” but “inconclusive.”
Sources in Washington said Lavrov and Rubio had “widely differing expectations” about how to end Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the collapse of the Trump-Putin talks has emboldened Moscow.
He said: “Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy” once it became clear that Trump had delayed any decision to send Kyiv Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Zelensky had travelled to Washington last week hoping to clinch the deal.
The Tomahawk, capable of flying 1,500 miles with near-pinpoint accuracy, would be a “game-changer,” military experts say — crippling Russian command centres and supply hubs far behind enemy lines.
But Trump left the meeting non-committal, stressing that peace must come before new weapon deliveries.
