Ukraine attacked an important Russian chemical plant using British-made Storm Shadow missiles, the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday, calling the facility critical to Moscow’s war efforts.

The strike, which used Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles, was successful, the armed forces said.

“A massive combined missile and air strike was carried out, including the use of air-launched Storm Shadow missiles, which successfully penetrated the Russian air defence system. The outcome of the strike is being assessed,” the General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said in a post on X.

“The Bryansk chemical plant is a key facility of the aggressor state’s military-industrial complex,” the Ukrainian military said.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Bryansk Oblast, where the plant is situated, acknowledged that Ukraine was attacking the region with drones and missiles on Tuesday afternoon. He said no one was injured in the attack and no damage was reported.

Ukrainian officials said the plant “produces gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components used in ammunition and missiles employed by the enemy to shell the territory of Ukraine”.

Storm Shadow is a cruise missile with a maximum range of around 250km (155miles ). The French call it Scalp.

After launch, the weapon, equipped with its navigation system, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking on to its target using an infra-red seeker. On the final approach, the missile climbs to a higher altitude to maximise the chances of hitting the target.

On impact, it penetrates the target before a delayed fuse detonates the main warhead. Powered by a turbo-jet engine, the 1,300kg Storm Shadow travels at speeds of more than 600mph, is just over five metres long and has a wingspan of three metres.

The missiles were also used to strike inside Russia in November last year.

While Russia did not confirm the attack on the facility, its defence ministry and local officials said the Bryansk region had been attacked.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a Telegram post on Tuesday evening that within four hours in the afternoon its air defence units destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones over the Bryansk region.

The Russian defence ministry rarely reports any damage inflicted by Ukraine.

Kyiv has deployed Storm Shadow missiles on several occasions during the war. In June 2023, the then-defence secretary Ben Wallace told parliament that the missiles were already having a “significant impact on the battlefield”.

The White House is walking back president Donald Trump’s plan for talks on ending the conflict just days after he claimed he would meet with Vladimir Putin in Budapest next month.

A White House official told The Independent there are “no plans” for a sit-down between Mr Trump and Mr Putin “in the immediate future” because secretary of state Marco Rubio had conducted a “productive call” with his Russian counterpart, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, which made an in-person meeting between the two top diplomats “not necessary”.

Mr Trump later told reporters at a Diwali celebration late Tuesday that he did not want to have “a wasted meeting” or “a waste of time” but did not rule out a meeting in the future.