United States President Donald Trump reiterated arming Ukraine with sophisticated Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting deep inside Russia, in case the war is not settled in Ukraine.
Trump said he might consult his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about the scope of sending these long-range missiles to Kyiv. “Ukraine would at all costs like to have Tomahawks, and I might say, look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,” he said.
While Putin has constantly expressed his desire to end the conflict, with root causes being addressed, including the rights of the Russian-speaking population living in Ukraine, the denazification of the country and NATO expansion.
Moscow has constantly said that the Ukrainian authorities were not interested in peace talks, alleging they have always tried to sabotage the peace talks. Trump recently said that he actually made the decision on whether he will send these high-precision weapons to Ukraine but will have to “ask the question of where they are sending them.”
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One unit of Tomahawk costs an estimated $1.3 million and has a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles), meaning that they could reach Moscow and far beyond. In response, Putin said, "His country would focus on strengthening the air defence systems."
He said that Ukrainian forces would be unable to operate such a sophisticated system without the “direct participation of American military personnel”. Though sources from the Pentagon and White House have said that the US was unlikely to supply such a high-priced weapon to Ukraine, and that Trump was only trying to exert more pressure on Russia.
If the US does, in any case, supply these weapons to Ukraine, the Russian response, as expected in the recent events, could be ten times more powerful, as Moscow possesses hypersonic missiles that could obliterate entire residential structures.
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