Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that if the US decided to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, it could “ruin” relations between Washington and Moscow.
“This will ruin our relations, or at least the emerging positive trend in these relations,” Putin said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
Vice President JD Vance recently confirmed that the Trump administration was considering arming Ukraine with Tomahawks, a step that would mark a significant escalation of the proxy war since the missiles can fire at a distance of over 1,000 miles, putting Moscow well in range.
It’s unclear if arming Ukraine with Tomahawks is a realistic option for the US since the missiles are designed to be fired out of US warships, and only in recent years has it developed a ground-launched, mobile version of a Tomahawk launcher. Such weapons systems were prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the US was also considering arming Ukraine with other types of missiles that have a range of around 500 miles, including Barracudas, air-launched missiles produced by Anduril. The report also said that President Trump had signed off on the Pentagon providing Ukraine with intelligence for long-range missile strikes inside Russia.
In August, the Trump administration announced a weapons deal for Ukraine that will provide the country with Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) air-launched missiles, which can hit targets up to 280 miles away. It’s unclear when the missiles will arrive, but once they do, they will be the longest-range weapons the US has provided Ukraine so far.
Last year, the Biden administration backed Ukrainian strikes inside Russia using US-provided ATACMS missiles, which have a range of up to 190 miles. The Journal previously reported that the Trump administration stopped allowing Ukrainian ATACMS strikes on Russia, but that is poised to change now that the president has signed off on backing strikes inside Russian territory.
