West supplies first long-range missiles to Ukraine, taunts South Africa

Britain becomes the first country to start supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, giving Kiev the ability to attack inside Russia while the West's hunt for any weapons delivery to Moscow continues with South Africa being the latest accusee.

Ukraine has been asking for long-range missiles for months, but massive support from Britain and other allies such as the United States have previously been limited to shorter-range weapons.

British Defense Secretary Wallace said London was sending Shadow Storm missiles to Ukraine so they could be used domestically, meaning he had received assurances from Ukraine that they would not be used to target inside Russia.

Accusing Russia of deliberately targeting civilians, he claimed that Russia's actions had led to sending such systems to Ukraine.

The missiles "are now going into, or are in, the country itself", he said.

The Kremlin had previously warned that if Britain provides these missiles to Ukraine, it should expect “an adequate response from our army”.

Russia has launched long-range missile attacks against Ukraine in recent days. It has already said that such attacks were designed to reduce the ability of Kiev in the war, rejecting any deliberate strikes on civilians.

US accusations against South Africa

The US ambassador to South Africa accused the country of secretly supplying Russia with weapons on Thursday, a charge that drew an angry rebuke from Pretoria.

Ambassador Reuben Brigety told media at a news conference that the United States believes weapons and ammunition were loaded onto a Russian cargo ship that docked at the Cape Town naval base in December.

"We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion," Brigety said, according to a video of the remarks. "The arming of Russia by South Africa ... is fundamentally unacceptable."

In response to the allegations, President Ramaphosa’s office hit back and called it “disappointing” that the US envoy had “adopted a counter-productive public posture”.

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“The Ambassador’s remarks undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterised the recent engagements between US government officials and a South African official delegation,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya, in a Thursday statement. 

He added, that while there is no evidence provided to support these allegations by the US, “the government has undertaken to institute an independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge.” 

Since the onset of the war, the US and the European Union have supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems despite Russia's repeated warnings that the Western military assistance will only prolong the war.

Zelensky: Ukraine needs time before counter-offensive

Ukraine was previously expected to launch a counteroffensive after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive, but Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that he still needed more time to plan a counter-offensive.

Speaking at his headquarters in Kiev, President Zelensky described the combat brigades, some of which were trained by NATO countries, and said the military still needed "some things," including armored vehicles that were "arriving in batches."

"With [what we already have] we can go forward, and, I think, be successful," he said. "But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time."

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Meanwhile, Russian forces have strengthened their defenses along the frontline, which runs 145 kilometers from the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.

Ukrainian officials have tried to dampen expectations of a breakthrough, both publicly and privately. Earlier this month, a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the country's leaders "realized they had to succeed" but that the attack should not be seen as a "silver bullet" in the war, now in its 15th month.

Russia denies advances by Ukrainian forces along front line

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday rejected reports that Ukrainian forces had penetrated into various parts of the front line and said that the military situation was under control.

Moscow reacted after Russian military bloggers on the Telegram messaging app reported Ukrainian advances north and south of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with some suggesting an expected counterattack by pro-Kiev forces has begun.

"Statements circulated by individual Telegram channels about 'defence breakthroughs' that took place in different areas along the line of military contact do not correspond to reality," the Russian defence ministry said in a Telegram post.

"The overall situation in the area of the special military operation is under control," it said in a statement, using the Kremlin's description of the war in Ukraine.

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