UK missiles offer may help Ukraine - but they are not what Zelensky needs most

The UK is set to hand over blueprints for its British-French designed Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine – following a similar move from France – allowing Ukraine to produce the weapon domestically. The move sends an important signal, showing that some Western nations are willing to share their expertise and know how to help Ukraine defend itself. But, on its own, this won't dramatically alter the course of the war. Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles have already been provided to Kyiv by both Britain and France. They've already been used to hit military targets inside Russia. The weapons are not new – they were developed in the 1990s - and they are expensive – at around £1m a piece. They also rely on complex global supply chains and have been built in peacetime at relatively low rates – in the hundreds, not the thousands. Even with the blueprints, Ukraine may find it hard to source components. It could take months, possibly years to make the cruise missile themselves. Copying Western weapons production in peacetime is, in fact, no way to win a war. Even Nato nations now realise that. Britain and many of its allies have tended to produce small quantities of highly advanced, expens