What are the Tomahawk missiles that Zelensky wants?
They have a range of 16,000 kilometers, more than enough to get from Kiev to Moscow.
WashingtonUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting with Donald Trump at the White House this Friday with one goal: to get the United States to hand over Tomahawk cruise missiles. Amid the cooling relationship between Washington and Moscow, Trump has threatened on several occasions to deliver this type of weapons to Kiev., with the aim of bringing the Kremlin back to the negotiating table. The long-range Tomahawks would be a significant change in the war, putting Moscow and other major Russian cities within range of Ukrainian fire.
The Trump-Zelensky meeting comes the day after the US president spoke by phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who told him that selling long-range weapons to Ukraine would hinder the dialogue process. After the call, Trump joked with reporters: "What do you think he should say: 'Please sell Tomahawks'? No, he doesn't," Trump said, calling the Tomahawks a "cruel weapon." For his part, Zelensky, now in Washington, said that the call showed that Putin was on the defensive. "We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about the Tomahawks," he told X.
Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest
After speaking with Putin, Trump announced that both leaders They will meet again, this time in Budapest. The Kremlin confirmed this Friday that it approves the choice of the Hungarian capital. Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting could take place "in two weeks or a little longer," although there is much work to be done before then.
This will be the second time Trump and Putin have met in person since the Republican returned to the White House following the bilateral summit on August 15 in Alaska. This time they have chosen a third country to host, Hungary, which means it will be the first time Putin has set foot in the European Union since the war in Ukraine began. The choice of location is no coincidence: a statue of President Trump hangs over the Russian leader's head.an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Courtfor war crimes in Ukraine, and although Hungary has invoked the Rome Statute, it has previously violated other criminal cases.
This move represents a symbolic recognition by Trump of his loyal follower within the EU, the far-right leader Viktor Orbán, also the closest to the Kremlin within the bloc. Peskov has said that the Kremlin approves of Orbán's hosting and applauds his defense of its independence: "Hungary, a NATO and EU country, maintains a special position regarding its sovereignty, from the point of view of defending its national interests. This undoubtedly arouses the respect of both."
Meanwhile, Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke on the phone this Friday, with Orbán assuring that preparations for the bilateral summit in Hungary are "going full steam ahead."
Long-range missiles
Meanwhile, Zelensky hopes to leave the White House today with the promise of receiving the missiles he is requesting from Washington. The Tomahawk is a type of cruise missile that, due to its long range, precision, and low cost—the most recent versions cost around $2.5 million—has become a staple in the Pentagon's arsenal. Cruise missiles are characterized by their propulsion by a small jet engine, and their bodies have wings that allow them to fly almost like an airplane. The result is that the missile has the autonomy to reach its target, which in the case of the Tomahawk is a range of more than 16,000 kilometers. The distance between Moscow and Kiev is only 800 kilometers.
Another aspect that makes the Tomahawk more lethal is that when in cruise mode, they can fly low above the ground, and are much more difficult to detect by anti-missile radars. The speed at which they fly is also quite fast, at around 885 kilometers per hour.
Being an autonomous missile, data must be previously entered into its guidance system: from terrain contour maps to digital images of the target to be shot down. Some versions also incorporate a GPS guidance system and radio antennas that allow them to be redirected to a new target once they have been launched. In this way, the Tomahawk becomes a missile that can change course and avoid buildings, as well as enemy air defenses before reaching its target.
To launch them, last year the United States designed a new ground-based system called Typhon, consisting of a standard 12-meter shipping container with the capacity for four missile tubes that rotate upwards when fired. In 2024, the US military already deployed the Typhon for the first time in the Philippines as a show of force against China. This system could be used by Ukraine should Washington decide to deliver the missiles.
To use them, Ukrainian soldiers would not need much training either. Since the summer of 2022, the Ukrainian army has been able to use the American HIMARS mobile launch system, which fires guided rockets with a range of over 110 kilometers and ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 305 kilometers. Although the Typhon system has some differences, in practice it also requires the soldier to enter data into a fire-control computer before launch.
Should Trump ultimately deliver the missiles to Ukraine, the Pentagon would likely also send the necessary equipment for soldiers to collect flight planning information.
