The UK government on Thursday confirmed that it is supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine in support of its counter-offensive in the conflict with Russia.

The Storm Shadow missiles being "donated" to Ukraine are described as having conventional precision strike capability and complement the long-range systems provided by international partners such as the US.

The UK said the supply will help Ukraine push back Russian forces from its territories.

"Today, I can confirm that the UK has donated Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Storm Shadow is a long-range conventional precision strike capability,” UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement to the House of Commons.

"The donation of these weapon systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia's continued brutality. Especially, the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law. Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this. Their use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian Sovereign Territory,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been calling for such weapons for a long time since the country's conflict with Russia broke out last year, but international supporters have been hesitant to supply them in case it leads to an escalation of hostilities. But Wallace told Parliament that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took the decision because Russia has continued down a “dark path” of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.

"This year, Russia's leadership has continued to systematically target civilians and civilian infrastructure with bombs, missiles and drones. More medical facilities were targeted in January than in the previous six months combined,” said Wallace.

Wallace said he wrote to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, in December last year to warn that further attacks could result in the UK donating more capable weapons. He said the missiles marked a move that is "calibrated and proportionate to Russia's escalations".

"None of this would have been necessary had Russia not invaded," he said.

"The UK stands for values of freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and the protection of civilians. We will stand side by side with Ukraine, we will continue to support them in defence of their sovereign country,” he added.

Storm Shadows, a conventionally-armed deep-strike weapon with a range of more than 250 kilometres, have been used previously in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya and can be fired by aircraft.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.