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The Armed Forces will be hit by £500 million worth of cuts, the Defence Secretary announced on Wednesday, just hours after British Storm Shadow missiles were fired into Russia for the first time.
The dramatic escalation saw Ukraine fire the UK-made, precision-guided cruise missiles into the village of Marino, Kursk, where they are thought to have struck a strategically important military facility.
Despite Vladimir Putin’s recent warnings that the conflict in Ukraine could escalate to nuclear war, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, announced on Wednesday that he was scrapping six major programmes across the Armed Forces, including the Army’s main fleet of drones.
Writing for The Telegraph, Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, cautioned that the cuts would send a message to adversaries that the UK’s defences were weakening.
He said: “For our enemies to be deterred, they must know we intend no holes in our capabilities or at least we will soon be upgrading them. To tell the world we are scaling back our capabilities when our enemies are doing the opposite is pure folly.”
His concerns were echoed by James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, who said: “On a day when it’s self-evident that the threats to our country are becoming ever greater, this is the worst possible time to be announcing substantial cuts to our capabilities.”
News of Ukraine’s assault came as Mr Healey announced in Parliament that he would cut a swathe of military programmes.
As well as the Army’s Watchkeeper drone programme, the Royal Navy’s Landing Platform Docks (LPD), HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark and the Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland will also be scrapped.
Mr Healey also confirmed that the wave class tankers RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler were to be axed, as well as 14 of the RAF’s oldest Chinooks and 17 Puma Helicopters.
On Wednesday, Ukraine fired 12 Storm Shadow missiles at a former country estate, the cellars of which are being used by the Russian military as a command centre.
The weapon, which has a range of 155 miles, is considered a “bunker buster” as it can penetrate hardened military defences.
Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia came a day after Moscow confirmed American long-range ATACMS weapons had been fired at Russia’s Bryansk region.
President Joe Biden granted permission for the US-made weapons to strike inside Russia after 12,000 North Korean troops were deployed to the front line in Kursk.
It led to Russia threatening to fire its “massive” new RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missiles at Kyiv as revenge.
The White House previously feared that firing long-range missiles inside Russia would escalate the conflict, but national security officials viewed North Korea’s involvement as an escalation by Moscow that required a response from the West.
Mr Biden had previously resisted approving the use of Storm Shadows inside Russian territory, despite months of lobbying from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Sir Keir Starmer is known to favour the extended use of Storm Shadow missiles, as does Emmanuel Macron, the French leader. But Mr Biden, who had a veto because the targeting system for the rockets is US-supplied, had held out.
In response to the emerging reports of the attack inside Russia, Mr Healey told MPs that he had spoken with his counterpart in Kyiv on Tuesday. They discussed the UK’s plan to support Ukraine, which included a “robust response” to “Russian escalation”. However, he cautioned: “I am not able to go into any other operational details.”
Downing Street also declined to comment on the reports.
The defence cuts were announced came after government departments were asked to save money when Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, said there was a £22billion black hole in the public finances.
Defence sources suggested to The Telegraph that the Government was trying to bury bad news by announcing the cuts on the same day it emerged that Storm Shadow missiles had been used.
Mr Wallace warned that there would be stark consequences when “retiring” platforms from the military. He said: “The Army’s artillery will be blind because they have just had their UAVs scrapped.”
He added that the Royal Marines had also “lost their main Command ships” and that the Armed Forces had “lost the remaining medium-lift helicopters”, as he criticised the Labour Government for failing to set out what would replace these lost capabilities.
Speaking before the Commons, Mr Healey defended the cuts as “common-sense decisions” which he accused previous governments of failing to take.
“I recognise that these will mean a lot to many who’ve sailed and flown in them during their deployments around the world,” he said.
“They have provided a valuable capability over the years. But their work is done. We must look now to the future.”
However, Mr Healey hinted at further cuts to come, as he added: “These will not be the last difficult decisions I will have to make, to fix the defence inheritance that we were left with.”
The announcement comes ahead of the Ministry of Defence’s strategic defence review, due to be published next year. The Telegraph understands that the review will look for ways to save money across each of the forces, as the military is expected to do more with less.