Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that he does not believe the Trump administration has made a final decision on the possibility of providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles and that he would be “surprised” if the US went through with the idea.
“I think this is primarily the result of European pressure on Washington, and Washington wants to show that it takes into account the opinions of its allies. I don’t think we have seen the final decision,” Lavrov told reporters at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
“The Americans don’t supply Tomahawks to everyone. Among Europeans, if I’m not mistaken, they supply them to Spain and the Netherlands; they’re somewhat wary of the rest. If they believe that Ukraine is a responsible nation that will use them responsibly, that would be surprising to me,” Lavrov added.
The Russian diplomat’s comments came after Vice President JD Vance confirmed that the US was considering arming Ukraine with Tomahawks by selling them to the US’s European allies. The step would mark a significant escalation of the proxy war, as Tomahawks have a range of over 1,000 miles, putting Moscow well in range of potential missile strikes, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently threatened that Kremlin officials could be targeted if the war drags on.
Moscow has previously made clear that US-backed missile strikes on its territory risk nuclear escalation, as it changed its nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons after the Biden administration gave the green light for Ukraine to fire US-provided ATACMS missiles into Russia.
Both Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov have downplayed the idea that Tomahawks would make much of a difference in the war. “No magical weapons exist, and Tomahawk or other missiles simply won’t be a game changer,” Peskov said on Monday.
It remains unclear how Ukraine would fire Tomahawk missiles since they are designed to be fired by US Navy warships and submarines, and Ukraine lacks such naval capacity. Since withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the US has developed ground-based launchers for Tomahawks, which could potentially be provided to the Ukrainian military.
