The Trump administration is said to be considering Ukraine‘s request for Tomahawk cruise missiles, weapons that would dramatically expand its ability to strike deep inside Russia. This comes as part of Washington’s growing frustration with Russia’s refusal to take peace talks seriously.
Tomahawks are among the most iconic U.S. precision weapons. First used in combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, they’ve more recently been employed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya. Depending on the variant, their range extends from about 1,000 to 1,550 miles. That’s enough to put even Moscow within reach.
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Traditionally launched from ships and submarines, Tomahawks would be difficult for Ukraine to operate, but the country has shown it can adapt to use Western systems. Ultimately, the key concern centers on ensuring that Ukraine can strike legitimate military targets inside Russia. Kyiv cannot continue to fight the war with its hands tied, without having a bolstered capability to disrupt the airfields, refineries, and supply lines that sustain Moscow’s war. President Donald Trump has said as much. He recently observed that “it is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country.”
While Russia has threatened to retaliate against NATO suppliers if Tomahawks are delivered, Moscow understands this would amount to an escalation it cannot afford. Moscow relentlessly throws cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities. Ukraine responds with Western-supplied Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles, but their reach is limited to a few hundred miles. Ukraine’s domestically produced Flamingo missile claims a range of nearly 1,900 miles but remains unproven and nowhere near mass production.
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So far, ordinary Russians have been largely shielded from the war’s consequences. While Ukrainians endure daily air raids, destroyed cities, and a constant threat of death, most Russians continue living normally. Long-range Ukrainian strikes, limited to military-industrial targets, could shatter that illusion. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, Russians must also know where their bomb shelters are. Ordinary Russians feeling the war’s costs would increase domestic pressure on Vladimir Putin.
What will bring the Kremlin to the table is raising the cost of war until its continuation becomes untenable. That requires the United States to help Ukraine win, not just survive. If Washington hesitates, Putin will wait, hoping to outlast Ukraine and exhaust American resolve. He is buying time, and Trump must show him that time is not on his side.
