MOSCOW (Dispatches) -  The Kremlin said on Sunday Russia was deeply concerned about the possibility of the U.S. supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, warning that the war had reached a dramatic moment with escalation from all sides.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that before agreeing to provide Tomahawks, he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with them because he did not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said, however, that he had “sort of made a decision” on the matter.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500km, meaning Ukraine would be able to use them for long-range strikes deep inside Russia, including Moscow. Some retired variants of Tomahawks can carry a nuclear warhead, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
“The topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin in remarks published on Sunday. “Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides.”
The war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest since World War Two, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and Russian officials say they are now in a “hot” conflict with the West.
Peskov said that if Tomahawks were launched at Russia, Moscow would have to take into account that some versions of the missile can carry nuclear warheads.
“Just imagine: a long-range missile is launched and is flying and we know that it could be nuclear. What should the Russian Federation think? Just how should Russia react? Military experts overseas should understand this,” Peskov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of U.S. military personnel and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a “qualitatively new stage of escalation.”
The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the U.S. has been helping Ukraine mount long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities for months. The FT said U.S. intelligence helps Kyiv shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, enabling Ukraine’s long-range, one-way attack drones to evade Russian air defenses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he discussed the possibility of bolstering his country’s air defense in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I informed President Trump about Russia’s attacks on our energy system, and I appreciate his willingness to support us,” Zelensky said on X.
According to him, the two leaders talked about opportunities to bolster Ukraine’s air defense, as well as concrete agreements to achieve that goal.
Zelensky said that there are “good options and solid ideas” on how to strengthen Ukraine.
Early this month two U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington would provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia, as it weighs whether to send Kyiv missiles that could be used in such strikes.
The U.S. also asked NATO allies to provide similar support, the U.S. officials said.