Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Asks America For Supply Of Tomahawk Missiles

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy firmly stated Kyiv had requested the supply of the US Tomahawk long-range missile.

The Tomahawk missile has a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), much larger than any missile Ukraine currently has.

Such arms shipments will almost certainly be seen by Russia as an increase in the war in Ukraine.

Zelenskiy traveled to the United States last month to deliver a winning plan' to US President Joe Biden, who he said could help pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to the war in good faith.

The Ukrainian president said the plan was considering a "non-nuclear prevention package" that would only be used if Moscow did not end a massive invasion and continued to escalate the conflict.

Some details of the plan are kept secret, something Zelenskyy mentioned.

"When many countries start supporting the winning plan, you see what's happening now in the media, they say that Ukraine wants a lot of missiles, like Tomahawk. But that's classified information between Ukraine and the White House. How to understand these messages?" he said.

"So this means that between partners there is nothing confidential," he added.

The New York Times quoted a senior US official on Tuesday as saying Zelenskyy had requested the Tomahawk missile.

The United States has been the most important source of military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, but is also trying not to do anything that could prompt Russia, which has nuclear weapons, to respond strongly or expand the conflict.

The United States, for example, has not allowed Ukraine to fire Western weapons at military targets far across Russian territory despite repeated calls from Kyiv to allow this.

Ukraine has developed its own long-range attack drone during the war and used it to strike targets on Russian territory.