Russia says it shot down two British Storm Shadow missiles

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian air defence forces have shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday in its daily report on events over the past 24 hours.

"Air defences shot down two Storm Shadow cruise missiles manufactured by Britain, six HIMARS rockets manufactured by the USA and 67 unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type," the ministry said in a statement.

Photos of apparent debris from a Storm Shadow missile had been posted by pro-Russian military bloggers on Telegram on Wednesday.

The posts on Telegram said the debris had been found in the village of Marino in Russia's Kursk region. Russia's defence ministry did not say on Thursday where the missiles were shot down.

Storm Shadow missiles are made by European missile systems company, MBDA, which brings together core missile assets from France, Britain and Italy.

According to MBDA, "Storm Shadow/SCALP is the air-launched long range, conventionally armed, deep strike weapon, designed to meet the demanding requirements of pre-planned attacks against high value fixed or stationary targets."

MBDA said that Storm Shadow/SCALPs have been used in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer declined to comment about the reports on Wednesday.

Britain had previously allowed Ukraine to use Storm Shadows, which have a range in excess of 250 km (155 miles), within Ukrainian territory.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Andrew Osborn and Ros Russell)