High Hopes and Mixed Messages

"[Tomahawk deliveries to Kyiv would send a] big political signal from Trump in talks with Russia, and would be] helpful [for Ukrainian forces]."

"But it's not like this one weapon is going to change the course of the whole war."

Unnamed European diplomat 

 

"[The trip from Ukraine to Washington is a] very important historical moment."

"[The meeting would leave the world in no doubt that Trump] finally understands that Putin is a liar, he can't be trusted, and actions are needed to stop the war."

"[The crucial question for Ukraine – whether Trump would agree to its use of American long-range Tomahawk missiles -- was close to being] solved."

Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker, Ukraine parliament 

Trump says he has faith in Putin, but Zelensky does not     Reuters

 

"[The prospect of Ukraine having Tomahawks had caused Russia to be] afraid because it is a strong weapon."

"I am realistic. We have to stop where we are, he is right, the president is right."

"[The] main priority now is to protect as many lives as possible, guarantee security for Ukraine, and strengthen all of us in Europe."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"I am [concerned Putin might be playing for time by agreeing to a new summit]."

"But I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well. So, it's possible, a little time, it's alright. But I think that I'm pretty good at this stuff. I think that he wants to make a deal."

"[There is] bad blood [between Putin and Zelenksy]."

"We want to make it comfortable for everybody. We'll be involved in threes, but it may be separated." "[The three leaders ] have to get together."

U.S. President Donald Trump

Tomahawk missiles are 6.1 metres long, with a 2.5 metre wing span, and weigh about 1,510kg, costing an estimated $1.3m (£1m) each. Illustration: e-crow/Shutterstock

 

The Tomahawk long-range cruise missile can carry various warheads; cluster munitions, high-explosives and bunker busters, launched from submarines, warships, and ground-based mobile systems. Some variants have a 2,500 kilometre range. Such a distance would allow Ukraine to launch from well within its territory and strike targets inside Crimea, as well as large swaths of Russia including the Moscow area and even further. Were Tomahawks to be given to Kyiv, it's likely they would also receive a truck-hauled launcher, the Typhon, to fire the weapons.

 

Ukraine is already in possession of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) which it has used to destroy command centres and troop positions within Russia, but the Tomahawk missiles can travel further than the ATACMS, their precision and trajectory being key attributes. Tomahawks are cruise missiles that fly low across the contour of the Earth, so it is difficult to detect and intercept them.

 

Some 9,000 Tomahawk missiles have been produced since the 1980s; hundreds of them used in combat and thousands deployed or decommissioned. The supply of these missiles has been drawn down by the U.S. Defense Department, caused by recent operations (attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and targeting Yemen). According to Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon policy chief, the U.S. is required to shift focus on deterring China. And Tomahawks represent a key weapon to stockpile by the Pentagon for the potential of future operations in the Indo-Pacific region.

 

So when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to the White House on Friday in the hopes of securing these more powerful American missiles to pressure Moscow to end the 30-yeear-old invasion, hopes were high in Kyiv, until it became known that Presidents Trump and Putin had just concluded an hour-and-a-half telephone conversation, very well regarded in its outcome by President Trump. Whose volatile, mercurial mindset can turn on that virtual dime. 

 

Offering to trade Ukraine drones for U.S Tomahawks saw President Trump acknowledge the superior design of Ukraine drones, but such weapons are already produced in the United States. "We'd much rather have them not need Tomahawks. We're in it to have the war over", he pointed out later. The big problem, he emphasized is that Zelenskyy and Putin have a strong aversion one to the other. And he himself appears to have a soft spot for Vladimir Putin.

 

Getty Images 

 

The Potential to Even the Odds for Ukraine

"As you understand, without software and launchers, the missiles themselves are just blanks."

"Accordingly, as has also been stated at a high level by the Russian side, the hypothetical use of such systems is only possible with the direct involvement of American personnel."

"Naturally, we urge the U.S. leadership and the U.S. military to take a sober, reasonable, responsible approach to this situation.

"Sadly, I have to say that the powerful impetus of the Anchorage meeting in favour of agreements has turned out to be exhausted to a significant extent by adversaries' efforts [European leaders] destructive actions."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov 

"Our response will be tough, ambiguous, measured, and asymmetrical," a senior Russian official said.

 

"I think I want to find out what they're doing with them [ATACM missiles sent to Ukraine, to determine what might be done with Tomahawks]."

"Where are they sending them? I guess I'd have to ask that question."

U.S. President Donald Trump

President Trump's administration has been forewarned. DO NOT give Ukraine access to long-range Tomahawk missiles with the potential to strike targets deep within Russia. Should Ukraine receive such armaments and use them as payback to Moscow for its strikes everywhere within Ukraine in defiance to international rules of conflict aiming directly at civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, apartment blocks, energy providers and shopping centers, claiming that the Russian military targets only military installations, this would be an act of terrorism on Ukraine's part. Quite unlike Russia's examples.

 

Moves the Trump administration has taken repeatedly toward resolving the Ukraine conflict -- occasioned by Vladimir Putin's overarching plan to annex Ukrainian territory for absorption into Greater Russia, when Russia's full-scale military invasion saw the Ukrainian military fighting back measure for measure in reacting to save its geography from Mr. Putin's fixation on territorial expansion and subjugation of Ukraine -- when Russian President Vladimir Putin met in August with U.S. President Trump, have been "largely exhausted" stated Mr.  Ryabkov in exasperation.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hand with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 

The fact that President Trump has been considering sale of new weapons over the past few weeks, to Ukraine while criticizing Russia as a "paper tiger", has not sat well with the Moscow contingent. A concerted Russian effort at deterring the Trump administration's musing about providing the more powerful missiles to Ukraine has been rather unnerving in Moscow for its potential. Obviously providing advanced military technology to Ukraine would see a direct conflict ensue between Russia and its NATO-linked neighbours.

 

It is European leaders who are the war-mongers, certainly not Russia is the prevailing message out of the Kremlin. It seems that Mr. Trump's evident weak spot for his Russian counterpart has groomed Russian authorities to consider him collegial in nature, whereas the open hostility evinced by Russia's East European neighbours mark them as  preparing for conflict with unassuming Russia which harbours no intention whatever of launching new invasions as soon as Ukraine falls.  

"[Ryabkov has] drawn a firm line [with his comment that the momentum for resolving the Ukraine conflict had dissipated after the Alaska summit]."

"[With Trump considering the Tomahawk question], Moscow sees the situation as critical."

"Moscow warns Trump about a more acute confrontation and expects him to make what it considers the 'right' choice."

Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center  

President Trump's casual remark that he had "sort of" made a decision, but had yet to discern how Kyiv would use the weapons beforehand, reflected the reality that the administration had not decided to sell the Tomahawks to Ukraine. The Tomahawk technology with its range of close to 2,500 kilometres depending on the variant involved, in comparison to around 300 kilometres for ATACM missiles previously provided to Kyiv, is serious business, placing Russia on alert. 

 

Despite that Putin had asserted that the missiles "won't change the balance of power on the battlefield", while at a Russian foreign policy conference, the potential of the Ukraine military using them definitely has the Kremlin on edge. The weapons, warned Mr. Putin on another occasion, would represent a "qualitatively new stage of escalation" since they could not be fired without involvement of U.S. personnel.  Supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine would create an aura with "severity of the consequences", he warned.

A dummy Tomahawk land attack missile is seen onboard HMS Artful, a British submarine, at a shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, U.K.   Phil Noble/Reuters

 

A former Russian deputy defence minister, Andrei Karetapolov, now head of the parliament's defence committee warned darkly that Russia knew how to shoot down these missiles and would in turn target any launchers detected on Ukrainian soil.  

"Our response will be tough, ambiguous, measured, and asymmetrical."

"We will find ways to hurt those who cause us trouble."

"The only problems will be for those who supply them and those who use them."

Andrei Karaetapolov 

Not to be outdone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned as well against the "new escalation" represented by allowing Kyiv access to Tomahawks. To round out the concerns expressed by the Russians, Keith Kellogg, the US. envoy to Ukraine, informed Fox News that President Trump had authorized Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes with U.S.-made weapons, with the warning that "there are no such things as sanctuaries".  

"After the summit in Alaska, there was hope that Trump was ready to continue dialogue with Russia and take our interests into account."

"Donald has now thoroughly disappointed us with his trademark inconsistency."

 Andrei Baranov, pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna delivers a statement at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Sept. 22, 2025 in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images