What You Need to Know: As Russia’s military gains ground, Ukraine is requesting Tomahawk cruise missiles to counter the Russian advance. The Tomahawk, with a range of 250-1,550 miles, could provide Ukraine with critical long-range strike capabilities.

-However, the weapon's full potential would depend on Western approval for strikes within Russian territory—a move that the U.S. and NATO are hesitant to endorse due to fears of nuclear escalation.

-Ukrainian President Zelensky also expressed frustration over media leaks regarding the Tomahawk request, highlighting Kyiv’s reliance on confidentiality to maintain strategic advantage in the conflict.

Could Tomahawk Missiles Turn the Tide for Ukraine?

The conflict in Ukraine isn’t going very well for the Ukrainian military.

The Russian military has been achieving slow but gradual gains in certain parts of the contact line. Kyiv can’t match the level of attrition Moscow promotes with its human-wave attacks that average more than 1,000 casualties per day.

To counter the Russian momentum, Ukraine seeks further military assistance from the West. Specifically, it wants the powerful Tomahawk cruise missile.

Tomahawk Missiles in Ukrainian Service?

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long range, all-weather cruise missile. As its full name suggests, the Tomahawk is used to take out ground targets. With a range of 250 to 1,550 miles (depending on the version), the Tomahawk is a powerful munition that could literally change the course of the war to Ukraine’s favor. The three most advanced versions of the Tomahawk (Block III, IV, and V) can penetrate Russia air defenses. Each of these versions of the Tomahawk brings different capabilities, including direct hit and cluster munitions.

The U.S. Navy and Royal Navy are the two main operators of the Tomahawk, launching the cruise missile from surface combatants and submarines.

However, the level of effectiveness of Ukrainian Tomahawks would hinge on whether the United States and NATO give Kyiv the green light to use Western weaponry against military targets within Russia. The Ukrainian military has plenty of weapon systems to attack targets inside occupied Ukrainian territory. So, the Tomahawk would only provide marginal gains to the Ukrainian forces. However, there are hundreds of military targets inside Russia and close to the border with Ukraine that are pivotal to the Russia invasion force and their destruction would seriously frustrate Russian offensive operations.

Currently, the U.S. and NATO decline to give such permission because of the fear of a nuclear escalation from Moscow—Russian President Vladimir Putin recently amended his country’s nuclear doctrine to perceive assistance by nuclear powers to third country to attack Russia as a nuclear threat.

For the Tomahawk to be as effective as possible, the White House would have to overcome its current reservations and give Ukraine the weapons to fight the war and win. As the conflict nears its three-year anniversary, it is paramount to end the bloodshed.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

But there is another element of the discussions to give Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles or, indeed, other advanced weapon systems: confidentiality. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was rather displeased when he was asked by journalists about the possibility of Ukraine receiving Tomahawks in future tranches of Western security assistance.

"You see what is happening in the media now. They said that Ukraine wants or wanted to get a lot of Tomahawk missiles and so on. But this was confidential information between Ukraine and the White House. How to understand these messages? It means that there is nothing confidential between the partners,” the Ukrainian President said.

One of Ukraine’s strongest weapons is secrecy. Kyiv has managed great tactical, operational, and even strategic results when it has maintained a veil of secrecy.

About the Author: 

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

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