Donald Trump will discuss the possible supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a meeting at the White House on Friday. It will be the fourth face-to-face meeting for the US and Ukrainian presidents since Trump returned to office in January, and their second in less than a month.
What are Tomahawk missiles?
Tomahawk land attack missiles, first used in combat in 1991, are long-range, guided cruise missiles typically launched from sea to attack targets in deep-strike missions. The longest range variant, the nuclear-capable Block II, entered service in 1983 and had a range of up to 1,550 miles (2,500km). Modern conventional variants have a range of 995 miles (1,600km). They fly low to the ground at a speed of 550 miles an hour.
The missiles are 6.1 metres long, with a 2.5-metre wingspan, and weigh about 1,510kg. They cost an estimated $1.3m (£1m) each.
Why does Ukraine want them?
Supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would significantly expand its strike capabilities, enabling it to hit targets deep inside Russian territory, including military bases, logistics hubs, airfields and command centres that are currently beyond reach, with accurate, destructive munitions. The Institute for the Study of War estimates that there are hundreds of Russian military targets within range of Tomahawks.
Ukraine has argued that such capabilities would help compel Vladimir Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.
On Tuesday, Radosław Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, argued Tomahawks could be particularly effective because Russia’s size makes air defence coverage difficult.
What are the downsides from Ukraine’s point of view?
Tomahawks are normally launched from ships and submarines, which Ukraine does not have. There is a relatively new land-launched variant, the Typhon, more obviously suitable for Ukraine, but the launchers are in short supply. The US army is known only to have two, although another launcher, the X-Mav, which is considered more mobile than the Typhon, was demonstrated this week.
Additionally, they are only available in relatively small numbers, estimated by some experts at 20 to 50 missiles. The missiles are generally considered most effective if launched in salvoes, which would be difficult with limited numbers.
What missiles have Ukraine’s allies supplied to date?
Ukraine currently has several western-supplied missiles, including US-made Atacms and GMLRS and UK and French-made Storm Shadows. Of those, the longest-range is the Atacm at 190 miles.
Ukraine has also developed its own missiles: the Flamingo, which was unveiled in August and has a range of more than 1,000 miles; and the Neptune anti-ship missile, which was unveiled it in 2015. Subsequent versions have a range of just over 600 miles.
What has Trump said about selling Tomahawks to Ukraine?
Trump has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that he could deliver Tomahawks. Simultaneously the Trump administration has authorised the sharing of US intelligence to help Ukraine carry out precision strikes on Russia’s oil refineries using domestically produced drones and Atacms. These attacks have led to fuel shortages and a sharp rise in gasoline prices across Russia.
However, the US president’s conciliatory tone after a phone call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday left in question the likelihood of immediate assistance to Ukraine and reignited European fears of US capitulation to Moscow.
Trump said Putin “didn’t like it” when he raised the possibility of supplying Tomahawks during the call, while also saying the US could not “deplete” its own supply. “We need them too, so I don’t know what we can do about that,” Trump said.
The key question is whether Trump is dangling the prospect of supplying Tomahawks to pressure Putin, while remaining unwilling to take a step that could bring the US closer to direct confrontation with a leader he still calls a “close friend”.
What has the Kremlin said?
The Kremlin has said Ukraine’s reliance on Washington for training, logistics and targeting intelligence to operate Tomahawks would draw the US into the war on a scale not seen before, undoing the progress Moscow claims to have made with the Trump administration.
Putin himself said last week that their transfer would mark a “qualitatively new stage of escalation”, a point echoed by the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Thursday.
