US President Donald Trump has stated that he has almost made the decision to send "Tomahawk" missiles to Ukraine. "But first, I would like to know what they want to do with these missiles. I will ask them that," Trump said, implying that Ukraine should share and agree with the US in advance on which targets it will strike.
Certainly, this should be the case, at least because Ukraine cannot deploy these missiles without the participation of US military personnel. The targeting of the missile by coordinates can only be done by the Americans.
If a decision is made to provide "Tomahawks" to Ukraine, this will confirm a radical shift in the policy of the new administration in the US regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.
After diplomatic efforts towards peace failed due to Russia's uncompromising position, Trump is preparing to move to the concept called "Peace through strength."
"Tomahawk" missiles were primarily designed to be launched from ships and have been part of the US military arsenal since 1983. They were first used in 1991 during the Gulf War against Iraq. The naval modification of the missile has a firing range of 2500 km. Additionally, there is a "land-to-land" modification that flies 1800 km, and it is expected that these will be the ones given to Ukraine.
The "Tomahawk" is a winged missile with high precision (5 meters deviation from the target), flying at an altitude of 30-50 meters, hard to detect by radar. Of course, it is not a miraculous weapon, but these missiles, along with Ukraine's domestically produced "Flamingos," can seriously reduce, though not completely eliminate, the sharp imbalance in missile armaments in favor of Russia. Apparently, Trump thinks that losing Russia's obvious superiority in this field will encourage it to take a more constructive position at the negotiating table.
When discussing the reasons for attacking Ukraine, Putin repeatedly stated, "If we did not do this, the US and NATO would soon deploy missiles in Ukraine capable of hitting Moscow and Saint Petersburg." What happened after these statements by the dictator and after serious war crimes began in Eastern Europe? First, Finland, near Saint Petersburg, joined NATO, doubling the length of Russia’s land borders with this military alliance, and now the US president is talking about sending cruise missiles to Ukraine...
Two days ago, Putin also declared that if "Tomahawks" are provided to Ukraine, it would be the end of Russia-US relations. However, it appears that his warning did not frighten Trump.
Let us recall that October 7th is the birthday of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin was born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
Shahin Jafarli,
political analyst
