The Kremlin accused Britain on Monday of obstructing peace efforts in Ukraine, after London agreed to share classified information on British-made components used in SCALP long-range cruise missiles, allowing Kyiv to expand domestic production of the weapons.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Britain was preventing peace in Ukraine by handing Kyiv information needed to produce the missiles, and threatened to destroy plants manufacturing them. He accused London of being involved in the war on the side of the Kyiv government, alleging Britain was “methodically and regularly” adding fuel to the conflict and hatching schemes to block even the slightest progress toward a peaceful settlement.
Peskov added that Russia’s armed forces were systematically gathering intelligence to identify missile production sites in Ukraine, with plans to target and destroy them.
The warning came as British Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Kyiv on his first overseas trip since taking office, pledging continued military support despite what he called Russia’s “outrageous threats” against Britain. The British government confirmed it would authorise defence firm MBDA to release information on UK-made components in the SCALP missile so Ukraine could produce them domestically.
The visit coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day. The missile initiative forms part of the broader Coalition of the Willing, a Franco-British-led effort to support Ukraine that began as a plan for a peacekeeping deployment in the event of a ceasefire and has since grown into an ongoing forum for arming and backing Kyiv amid uncertainty over continued US commitment.