On October 13, local time, The Russian Federation Security Council Vice Chairman and Chairman of the United Russia Party Medvedev said that supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine "may cause everyone to suffer, especially Trump himself."

Medvedev says supply to Ukraine of "strike ax" will hurt everyone (data map)

According to Medvedev, the nuclear version of the "Tax" missile can not be distinguished from the conventional version in flight at all. The launchers of the nuclear version will not be Ukraine, but only the United States. In the case of the impossibility to distinguish between the version of the missile and the launchers, Medvedev replied: how should Russia respond? he pointed out that this is exactly where the problem is the supply of "Tax" missiles.

US President Trump said on the 12th that if the conflict between Russia and Ukraine cannot be resolved, he may provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Trump told reporters that day: "If the conflict between Russia and Ukraine cannot be resolved, I may tell (Russian President) Putin that I may provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine." In addition, Trump also said that Ukraine hopes to acquire Tomahawk missiles, which will improve its combat capabilities. (CCTV News)

Extended reading

Providing a ¡°war ax¡± to Ukraine may just be a pretext for the United States

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he was about to make a final decision on ¡°providing ¡®Taxic¡¯ cruise missiles to Ukraine,¡± sparking strong opposition on the Russian side. Russian President¡¯s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on 7th that this would be a serious escalation of the situation, ¡°but will not change the situation in Kiev.¡±

The Russian claim should be mostly true, but the question is whether the U.S. military can carry nuclear warheads (BGM-109A) all withdrew in 2013 and is Russia so tense?

The U.S. land-based "Tax" missile launcher was destroyed earlier in the Cold War.

The British "Financial Times" said that Trump had previously asked Ukraine President Zelensky "whether the Ukrainian army can attack Moscow or St. Petersburg." The response was "If you give us weapons, we can do it." Reported that Zelensky asked the United States to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles, believing that the move was one of several ways to force Russia to the negotiating table. Trump said on October 6 in response to questions about whether Ukraine would obtain Tomahawk missiles: "I have generally made a decision. I want to know what they (Ukraine) will do with them. Where will they launch? I think I will have to ask myself about it."

Zelensky asked the U.S. to provide ¡°Tax¡± cruise missiles, saying the move was one of several ways to force Russia to the negotiating table.

According to the Russian newspaper, Trump hopes that the Ukrainian side will buy "Taxic" cruise missiles through European countries and then ship them to Ukraine. The "Taxic" cruise missiles weigh about 400-450 kilograms, with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, can hit Russian deep areas including Moscow, thus greatly enhancing Ukraine's operational capabilities. At present, the most advanced weapons in the range of Ukrainian military equipment are the "Storm Shadow" / "Scap" cruise missiles provided by Britain and France, with a range of more than 250 kilometers. In addition, Ukraine also uses various modified long-range drones, but they can only carry 50-100 kilograms of warheads, and the power is very limited.

Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the decision of the United States to provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine will undermine the positive momentum that has emerged since the Russia-US summit. He also said that without the direct participation of American military personnel, Ukraine would not be able to use Tomahawk missiles, and this participation means that the escalation of tensions in areas such as Russia-US relations has entered a new stage. "Viewpoint" quoted the analysis of Russian military expert Anpilogov as further explaining that before launching the Tomahawk cruise missile, it is necessary to draw the offensive route according to high-precision three-dimensional topographic maps. These extremely confidential maps represent the highest level of military secrets. "They will not be provided to the Ukrainian side. Therefore, pre-launch preparations will be carried out by foreign experts-possibly including Americans and British."

However, it must be acknowledged that even the latest version of the "Tax" missile, its performance is largely equivalent to the X-555 and X-101 cruise missiles used by the Russian army in the conflict in Russia. The real war proves that the defense capabilities of this subsonic cruise missile are limited, the Ukrainian army has successfully intercepted the Russian army's cruise missiles several times, the "Tax" missile has also been shot down in the previous local conflict.

So the question arises: Why is Russia so nervous about the United States providing "Tomahawk" to Ukraine? That even the old story that it could carry a nuclear warhead has been brought up?

The analysis of the report is interesting.

Today, Tomahawk missiles are mainly launched from surface ships or submarines

Although multiple models of the Tomahawk missile were developed during its service, the air-launched version that best meets the current needs of Ukraine was not in service. Most of the Tomahawk cruise missiles currently in service by the US military were developed by the US Navy and can be launched by surface ships or submarines. However, today, the Ukraine Navy no longer has ships capable of carrying Tomahawk missiles.

The U.S. Army has also introduced part of the ¡°Tax¡± cruise missiles launched from ground launchers and equipped them with the ¡°Tifon¡± medium-range missile system, but the problem is that the U.S. military is rushing to equip the ¡°Tifon¡± system for the newly formed multi-domain special forces, and the Pentagon is unlikely to prioritize Ukraine¡¯s needs.

In addition, the performance of the "Taxic" missile itself has been lagging behind, and the relevant reserves of the U.S. military are not much. Therefore, the Russian media believes that if the U.S. decides to provide "Taxic" cruise missiles to Ukraine, it is more likely to make a pad for subsequent supply of other more advanced long-range assault weapons. The report mentions that "Ukraine may also receive JASSM air-to-ground missiles, whose range depends on different models, between 370 and 1000 kilometers.

F-16 fighter jets launching JASSM missiles

As the U.S. Army¡¯s new generation of air cruise missiles, JASSM has high-visibility characteristics and intelligent path planning capabilities, designed for precise strikes on high-value targets, and its defense capabilities are far above the old-fashioned ¡°Tax¡± cruise missiles. More importantly, JASSM¡¯s requirements for launching platforms are not high, not only can be loaded by the Ukrainian F-16 fighters currently equipped, but also can be launched by carriers using ¡°Speed Dragon¡± ammunition plates. So its paper range is close to the ¡°Tax¡±, but if combined with the air platform¡¯s working radius, the actual threat range is much larger. In 2024, the U.S. broadcasted the news of preparing to provide such advanced missiles to Ukraine,

It is precisely in recognition of such new threats that the "Russia Today" website quoted political analyst Vladimir Brut as saying that the use of weapons such as the "Tomahawk" will seriously complicate the situation, which not only means that Russia's confrontation with Ukraine has reached a new level, but also means collective confrontation with the West.