These subsonic missiles, with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, would significantly strengthen kyiv’s military capabilities and could alter the course of the war by put Russian bases within reach of Ukraine. That is why Russia considers this measure a “red line.”
The president of the United States told the press, aboard the presidential plane and shortly after leaving Washington for the Middle East, that has not yet made a decision on sending the Tomahawk, who could talk to Putin before.
However, he revealed that he discussed the missile issue with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodímir Zelenski, in two telephone conversations held over the weekend.
“(Ukraine) would like to have Tomahawks. We talked about it, and we’ll see. To be honest, I might have to talk to Russia about Tomahawks. Do they want to have Tomahawk missiles heading their way? I don’t believe it”, Trump said.
With the arrival of The expected Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine could upset the balance of forces in the war and pressure Moscow to resume peace talks, after more than three and a half years of invasion.
Russia partially controls several provinces and aspires to annex them, along with Crimea, at a future negotiating table.
The decisive Tomahawk
These weapons, called BGM-109 Tomahawk and manufactured by the American company Raytheonare cruise missiles launched from ships, submarines and land launchers, with the capacity to hit targets located at a distance of up to 2,500 kilometers, a range much greater than that of the weapons delivered so far to Ukraine by its Western partners.
These missiles carry highly explosive warheads. and that they travel at subsonic speed, making their detection by radar more difficult when also flying at low altitude.
Tomahawks are ideal for destroying relatively small targets.such as air defense equipment and radars, given the great precision conferred by its guidance system, which combines GPS technology and inertial navigation.
kyiv still uses missiles like the British Storm Shadowwhich have a range of about 250 kilometers, and the American ATACMS, with a range of about 300 kilometers, a distance about ten times shorter than that of the Tomahawk.
The US Department of Defense also states in a document on the characteristics of the Tomahawk missile that it can carry “nuclear or conventional loads”, while its land modality includes variants with a thousand-pound warhead (about 453 kilograms) and more than 150 submunitions.
Raytheon details on its website that the most recent version of the missile, the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM), can “change targets while already in flight.” “It can remain motionless for hours and change course instantly when commanded,” the company adds.
According to he think tank estadounidense Institute for the Study of War (ISW), The delivery of these missiles would allow Ukraine to attack more than 1,500 “military targets” in Russia. The report specifies that the Tomahawks with a range of 1,600 kilometers could reach up to 1,655 targets – including 67 air bases – and those with a range of 2,500 kilometers, about 1,945, including 76 air bases.
Potential targets include “permanent bases, fuel depots, command centers, air defense facilities, weapons factories and training centers,” as well as the Engels air base and a Geran-2 drone plant in Tatarstan.
Precisely these Russian drones are capable of reaching 2500 kilometerswhich would mean reaching practically any European capital, as President Zelensky warned European leaders at the recent Copenhagen Summit.
In search of the Nobel
It is not the first time that Trump has brought this issue to the table, but after the peace agreement reached between Israel and Palestine, he now wants to continue making history, pressure Putin to end the war in Ukraine and run as a strong candidate for the next Nobel Prize.
The one who did not take long to respond was the former Russian president and deputy head of the country’s Security Council, Dmitri Medvédev, who warned this Monday that the possible delivery to kyiv of the aforementioned US missiles Tomahawk It can “end badly for everyone,” including the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
“The delivery of these missiles can end badly for everyone and, first of all, for Trump himself,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
This is how the former Russian president reacted to Trump’s statements, who threatened Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, with consequences if the Ukrainian conflict is not resolved.
“We can only hope that this is another empty threat,” said Medvedev, known for his controversial statements on social networks.
Donald Trump himself already reacted in the past to one of the former Russian president’s messages, describing it as “big mouth.”