Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to discourage the United States from sending Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine by linking better US-Russian relations to US concessions on the war, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report Monday.
In an interview published Oct. 5, Putin warned that US provision of Tomahawk missiles would “lead to the destruction” of an “emerging positive trend” in ties between Washington and Moscow, the ISW said.
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The ISW said Putin has used several lines of argument to try to stop a US decision to provide Tomahawks. On Oct. 2 he warned the United States against sending the missiles and said American military personnel might have to take part directly in any Tomahawk strikes launched by Ukraine.
He also called such strikes a “new stage of escalation,” though he argued they would not change the battlefield situation.
Vice President JD Vance said last week that Washington is considering Ukraine’s request for Tomahawks, which could reach far into Russia, including Moscow.
According to The Telegraph, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested long-range cruise missiles from Trump during a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.
US Special Representative Keith Kellogg confirmed on Fox News that Zelensky had indeed made the request. Kellogg added that a decision on providing Tomahawks has not yet been made and remains solely with Trump, according to the White House.
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However, sources familiar with Tomahawk missile training and supplies told Reuters that delivering the missiles to Ukraine would be difficult. While there is no shortage of the weapons, current inventories are largely committed, and other shorter-range options could be supplied instead.
The think tank said the Kremlin’s chief motive is to protect Russia’s rear areas from long-range Ukrainian strikes. Ukrainian long-range drones have struck deep into Russian territory, but their payloads are limited.
The Tomahawk has a range of up to 2,400 km. Russian media reported that if transferred, Ukrainian forces could strike as far as Tyumen in the east and Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in the north. In total, the missiles could cover roughly 60 oblasts in European Russia, the Urals, and Siberia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The institute estimated that between about 1,655 and 1,945 Russian military objects sit within the reach of Tomahawk variants.
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