Kremlin Warns Tomahawk Missile Launch Requires US Personnel Involvement

Dmitry Peskov. (Source: Kremlin)

JAKARTA - The launch of the Tomahawk missile will require the involvement of US personnel, so the potential for the missile delivery to Kyiv could have serious consequences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The handling of such advanced missiles inevitably requires the involvement of American specialists. That's a real fact. This is what Medvedev uploaded," he said, when asked to comment on the post of Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on social media who said such arms transfers could "end badly" for everyone, reported by TASS October 13.

"Every expert who monitors this problem understands it very well," added Peskov.

Earlier, President Medvedev wrote on Russia's national messaging app, Max, that the potential for sending Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv would not benefit anyone.

He stressed it is impossible to determine whether the flying Tomahawk missile carries nuclear weapons or conventional weapons, which has been repeatedly emphasized.

"It's not the Banderite (neo-Nazi inauguration used since the Soviet era) Kyiv, but the US will launch it," said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is known to have asked the US to sell Tomahawk to European countries which would then send it to Ukraine.

On Sunday, the Kremlin said Russia was deeply concerned about the possibility of the United States supplying the Tomahawk missile to Ukraine, warning the war had reached a dramatic moment with escalation from all sides.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday last week, before approving the supply of the Tomahawk missile, he wanted to know what Ukraine plans for the missile because it did not want to escalate the escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, he said he had "made a decision" regarding this matter.

The Tomahawk missile has a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), meaning Ukraine can use it for long-range attacks within Russian territory, including Moscow.

Several retired Tomahawk variants can carry nuclear warheads, according to the US Congressional Research Service.

"Topik Tomahawk is very concerning," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television reporter Pavel Zarubin in a statement published on Sunday.

"Now it's really a very dramatic moment given the tensions are rising from all sides."

The war in Ukraine, the deadliest in Europe since the Second World War, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Russian officials say they are now in a "hot" conflict with the West.

Peskov said that if Tomahawk was launched into Russia, Moscow would have to take into account that some versions of the missile could carry nuclear warheads.

"Just imagine: a long-range missile is launched and flying and we know that it could be nuclear. What should the Russian Federation think? How should Russia react? Military experts abroad should understand this," Peskov warned.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month it was impossible to use Tomahawk without the direct participation of US military personnel, so the supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a "qualitative new escalation stage".