ع
Andrei Fedorov, a Kremlin adviser and former deputy foreign minister, told the BBC that pressure from Russian public opinion, journalists and mass media was mounting on President Vladimir Putin to respond to Britain’s deepened involvement in the Ukraine conflict. Fedorov suggested a so-called semi-military reaction could target enterprises producing drones, adding that such sites could be attacked not by Russia but by unknown sources. The comments came as the UK agreed to release classified technical data on components for the Scalp missile, the French variant of the British Storm Shadow, allowing Ukraine to manufacture the weapon domestically, according to a government statement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticised the blueprint transfer on the same day, claiming it added fuel to the fire and blocked even minimal progress toward peace, a position echoed across multiple Russian statements reported by The Telegraph. Peskov said Russian forces were already gathering data on missile production locations with the intent to destroy them. The warnings follow earlier alerts from the Russian embassy in London, which told Reuters in mid-August that Britain’s supply of drones used for strikes on Russian territory would carry consequences that London would have to answer for.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on his inaugural overseas trip since taking office in July, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on the 35th anniversary of Ukrainian independence and co-chaired a coalition of the willing meeting with French and German counterparts, the UK government reported. Burnham told his hosts that the UK stands four-square behind Ukraine and that Russian threats only strengthen British resolve, while announcing the missile technology transfer in exchange for Ukrainian battlefield data from the Avengers AI system. The visit coincided with a joint statement from Britain, France and Germany that condemned Russian strikes on civilian targets and pledged further sanctions on Moscow’s shadow fleet.
The United Kingdom has dramatically expanded drone deliveries to Ukraine, with the Ministry of Defence announcing a £750 million package in June that includes 150,000 drones by the end of 2026 alongside more than 350 air-defence missiles and radars. Government figures from earlier this year showed the UK on track to deliver 100,000 drones annually after investing £350 million to scale production tenfold from 2024 levels, supporting both Ukrainian needs and British jobs in the defence sector. Companies such as Malloy Aeronautics in Maidenhead and several firms clustered around Swindon, including those operating at Europe’s largest indoor drone testing facility, have become central to this effort, according to reports in iNews and the Swindon Advertiser.
British-made drones have already been used to strike targets deep inside Russia, including oil refineries, warehouses and logistics hubs, causing more than £35 billion in economic damage as detailed in accounts shared with the BBC by military sources. These systems, ranging from first-person view models to long-range variants with extended reach, form part of a broader shift toward uncrewed technology that the Ministry of Defence says has proven decisive on the battlefield. A Parliamentary research briefing from May noted that UK arms exports, including missiles and other systems relevant to the Ukraine effort, averaged more than £1 billion annually in recent years when measured in trend-indicator value.
Burnham is scheduled to travel to the United States next month with European leaders to press President Donald Trump on bolstering Ukraine’s air defences, including potential Patriot missile supplies that Zelensky has said are critically short ahead of winter. The prime minister expressed confidence in a Bloomberg interview that solutions could be found through layered support and negotiation, even after Trump backtracked in July on allowing Ukraine to produce the American system domestically. Ukrainian officials have meanwhile handed over extensive combat data to British defence experts as part of the new agreement, a step the Ministry of Defence described as mutually beneficial for future technology development.
