Following the hit, secondary explosions occurred, hinting at munitions being present in the ship’s carriage compartment. There are unconfirmed reports of Storm Shadow cruise missiles being used in the attack.
The British-made missiles were used in the attack against the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s HQ at Sevastopol. Ukraine has Storm Shadow and MBDA’s SCALP EG cruise missiles integrated into Su-24 ground attack aircraft.
Despite the Su-24 generally being used for bombing and short-range missile attacks, the urgent need for a platform capable of delivering Western-supplied cruise missiles gave it a new role.
