Direct proof of use
France publicly announced in July 2023 that it would deliver SCALP cruise missiles to Ukraine, describing the transfer as a way to give Ukraine deep-strike capability against key Russian military infrastructure on Ukrainian territory.
By early August 2023, Ukrainian public imagery and defense reporting showed SCALP-EG integrated with Ukrainian Su-24 strike aircraft. The War Zone reported that French SCALP-EG missiles were in Ukrainian service and being fired from Su-24s, while Defense Express identified the French missile under a Ukrainian Su-24 wing in footage from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's official channels.
Sources: Sommet de l'OTAN a Vilnius, French SCALP-EG Cruise Missiles Officially In Use In Ukraine, Defense Express SCALP-EG Su-24 Video
Timeline
The public record begins with France's July 2023 transfer announcement, followed by August 2023 imagery and reporting that placed SCALP-EG on Ukrainian Su-24 aircraft.
Ukraine and Russia both reported cruise-missile strikes in occupied Crimea in August and September 2023, including attacks on bridges and the Sevastopol shipyard. Open reporting often grouped Storm Shadow and SCALP because the missiles are closely related and externally similar, so this page treats those later strikes as context unless the source directly identifies the French SCALP-EG variant.
Sources: Sommet de l'OTAN a Vilnius, Ukraine Hit 2 Crimea Bridges With Storm Shadow, Gets More From France, AP Sevastopol Shipyard Attack
Narrative
SCALP-EG entered the war as part of Ukraine's Western-supplied long-range air-launched cruise-missile inventory. France's official wording tied the transfer to strikes against Russian military infrastructure inside Ukrainian territory, while the Ukrainian Su-24 integration showed how the weapon was adapted to an aircraft type already used by Ukraine for Storm Shadow operations.
In Ukrainian service, SCALP-EG's documented role was long-range precision strike and interdiction rather than close air support. The evidence supports Ukraine as the operator, Su-24 as the publicly documented launch aircraft, and occupied Ukrainian territory as the announced target set. Specific post-delivery strikes are sometimes attributed to Storm Shadow/SCALP as a combined family; where sources do not separate the French and British missiles, the safer claim is that SCALP-EG contributed to Ukraine's broader long-range cruise-missile capability.
Sources: Sommet de l'OTAN a Vilnius, French SCALP-EG Cruise Missiles Officially In Use In Ukraine, Defense Express SCALP-EG Su-24 Video
