Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the US for Tomahawk missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads and have a range of over 1,000 miles, a request that is part of his so-called “victory plan.”
Zelensky did not make that part of his plan public, but the request was revealed by an unnamed US official speaking to The New York Times for a report that was published on Tuesday. The report said the idea of giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles was “totally unfeasible.”
“A Tomahawk has a range of 1,500 miles, more than seven times the range of the long-range missile systems called ATACMS that Ukraine got this year. And the United States sent only a limited number of those, senior US officials said,” the report reads.
On Wednesday, Zelensky made clear that he was angry over the leak. “And this was confidential information between Ukraine and the White House. How should we understand these messages? So, it means between partners there’s nothing confidential?” he said.
Zelensky’s request for Tomahawk missiles is part of his demand for the US to support long-range Ukrainian strikes inside Russia with NATO-provided missiles. At one point, the US appeared poised to back the long-range strikes but ultimately rejected Zelensky’s plea.
Four US officials told the Times that Zelensky was “stunned” when President Biden didn’t sign off on the request for long-range strikes in Russia during a meeting they held in September. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that such strikes would risk nuclear war.
The issue of Tomahawk missiles is also very sensitive since one of Putin’s main gripes with the US before he launched the invasion of Ukraine was the US establishing Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in Romania and Poland that use MK-41 launchers, which can fit Tomahawk missiles.
Any land-based version of the Tomahawk would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019. Since exiting the treaty, the US has developed land-based systems that can fire tomahawks, deployed one to the Philippines, and is planning to send a similar system to Germany by 2026.
Zelensky's "victory plan" is a full scale war between NATO and Russia which eventually would slide into a nuclear version.
Voldemort Zelensky is truly an uneducated boob.
In the 1980s we used Tomahawk cruise missiles as targets for our Pheonix missiles. The were easily intercepted and shot down.
Don't let Raytheon and their shill Lloyd Austin blow smoke up your….
It is not worth the cost!
They're probably already in Ukraine, ready to go.
Zelenskyy does what the CIA tells him to do.
Always looking for and clamoring for the "magic bullet"
He was "stunned!?" Save all your stunning until we abandon and replace you, buddy. Reportedly and allegedly, Kamala encouraged him to prepare a replacement. LOL. Talking about somebody who can't read the room. He's not even trying.
"(Ooh white lines) Visions, dreams of passion…."
He's stunned all right.
https://x.com/i/status/1851690650636624032
His "proposals" are getting old. No matter what he gets, it's never enough, and he immediately moves on to his next demand. He got his HIMARS; they had no effect. He got his tanks; they had no effect. He got his F-16s (sort of); they have no effect. He got his ATACMs, they had no effect. So now he wants Tomahawks. I though the combination of F-16s and ATACMS was going to "make Crimea untenable, destroy the Kerch bridge, and force the Russians out"? Certainly the incoherently alcoholic boob "General" Ben Hodges swore to us that would happen; he wouldn't lie, would he?
"Between Partners"??? That's so cute. Zelensky actually thinks we are his "partners". AT BEST we are his puppet masters, and he is our dancing marionette. NO, the puppet master owes the puppet nothing; we pull the strings, and Zelensky dances. And, of course, Ukrainians die. But that's a price "we are willing to pay".
The target list that Ukraine presented the U.S. with far exceeded the number of missiles the American military can spare for Kyiv without jeopardizing potential requirements for the Middle East and Asia, the anonymous officials added in the story.
https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-confirms-tomahawk-missiles-victory-plan-blasts-us-for-giving-away-secrets-ukraine-white-house-russia-war-leak/
At first I thought good for that anonymous official leaking that news. But then I read the real reason they won't give Zelensky the Tomahawks. So many wars so few Tomahawks.
Who cares? Tomahawks are old and slow, and already proven in Syria to be vulnerable to Russian ECM. Do you remember all those 75-100 Tomahawk launches under Trump in Syria – 90% of whom never hit their target? No one is going to give Zelensky nuclear armed Tomahawks and if they did, Putin would nuke Kiev first.
So why are we even discussing this as if it was serious – like half of what Antiwar.com reports?
The reason Russia doesn't like Aegis Ashore is that it gives limited time to react to a first strike, plus the missiles could be used to interdict a Russian second strike. That's entirely different from being worried about non-nuclear Tomahawks.
The Aegis Ashore is precisely why the SMO was initiated. All the other reasons Putin enumerated at the start are just preconditions for countering those missiles. You counter them by placing your AD as close to them as possible – which is western Ukraine – so you intercept them at "boost phase" rather than at "terminal phase" when they are harder to intercept.
"No one is going to give Zelensky nuclear armed Tomahawks and if they did, Putin would nuke Kiev first."
To a point I have made before – whether or not the Tomahawks (are we sure Zelenskiyy wasn't just ordering giant steaks ?) are equipped with nuclear warheads isn't the issue.
The issue is that they CAN be; and if the Russian Federation detects them inbound, the RF has no way of knowing if one or many of them actually ARE nuclear-tipped or not.
In the same position, whether nuclear-capable missiles or the Red October are inbound on US shores, how would the Joint Chiefs advise the President with minutes until MAYBE PERHAPS a nuclear strike on Washington DC or a city that Middle America actually cares about ?
Still not a problem. If the Russians feel like that – and I suspect you're entirely correct that they do – they will nuke any identified source of said Tomahawks once the first one is fired. Maybe including Kiev. That should send a message.
My point is that Tomahawks can be handled. One way or the other.
Oh, certainly. I wonder if advanced Russian S-series missile batteries could do it ?
Additionally, I am curious if it is possible to detect radiation from the core of a nuclear warhead, and if so, from what distance. I would think the necessity of reducing warhead mass might minimise shielding; but at the same time, the warheads DO need to be stored near humans for extended periods (particularly on missile subs) so there’d have to be a minimum…
Hack you should stick to the warmongering circle-jerk over at Moon of Alabama and leave anti war alone. seriously that propaganda site censors all anti war viewpoints, you love it over there with your armchair generals who love to watch things die from a good safe distance.
Welcome to my block.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14024061/Kim-Jong-America-powerful-strategic-weapon-North-Korea-longest-ballistic-missile-test.html
My best regards to Mr. Kim. Do what you must to save your citizenry.
"Zelensky’s request for Tomahawk missiles is part of his demand…"
There you go again, DeCamp. Zelensky is not demanding weapons from his partners. He's begging for them and the right to use them in the most effective way to protect Ukraine–because Putin is committing theft of Ukrainian territory and genocide of the Ukrainian people. It is Putin who is demanding that Ukraine and the West submit to his crimes, with the constant threat of nuclear retaliation if they don't.