MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops will use Storm Shadow missiles against both the Russian army’s forward positions as well as civilians, Andrey Marochko, a retired colonel of the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said on Tuesday.

"I think they will stage combined strikes, the same way they use the previously-supplied HIMARS (multiple rocket launchers - TASS). They target both army positions and civilians. I think this tactic will be used with the Storm Shadow as well," he said in an interview with Radio Rossii.

According to Marochko, the missile attacks on Lugansk were quite predictable. He noted that as soon as UK Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace announced supplies of cruise missiles to Kiev, experts expected strikes within their range.

The Storm Shadow missile is a very dangerous weapon and it will take time to re-equip vehicles and train troops to counter it, he said. "But for every poison, there is an antidote. The missiles are already being downed. <…> and in the long run we will reach the indices that are now applicable to HIMARS," he added.