Russia warns of 'dramatic escalation' over possible US supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, in an interview with Russian state television journalist Pavel Zarubin, said the possibility of Kyiv receiving long-range US missiles was “extremely worrying.”

“The topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern,” Peskov said. “Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides.”

The remarks came shortly after US President Donald Trump told reporters that he had “sort of made a decision” on whether to provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

Trump said he would first want to understand how Ukraine intends to use them, stressing that he did not want to further escalate the ongoing war with Russia.

Tomahawk missiles can travel up to 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles), enabling potential strikes deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow. According to the US Congressional Research Service, some older variants of the missile can carry nuclear warheads.

Peskov warned that Russia would have to consider the nuclear-capable potential of the missiles if they were ever launched against it.

“Just imagine, a long-range missile is launched, and we know it could be nuclear. What should the Russian Federation think? How should Russia react?” he said as quoted by Reuters. “Military experts overseas should understand this.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that any deployment of Tomahawks in Ukraine would be impossible without the direct involvement of US military personnel, and would therefore mark a “qualitatively new stage of escalation.”

The war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest since World War II, has triggered the most serious confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Russian officials increasingly describe the conflict as a “hot” war with NATO and Western powers.

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the US has been helping Ukraine carry out long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure for months.

The report said US intelligence has assisted Kyiv in route planning, altitude, timing, and mission coordination to help Ukrainian attack drones evade Russian air defences.

Putin continues to portray the conflict as a defining moment in Moscow’s relationship with the West, accusing NATO of encroaching on Russia’s traditional sphere of influence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine and its Western allies, however, describe the invasion as an unprovoked act of aggression and have vowed to defeat Russian forces and restore full sovereignty over all occupied territories.