Kremlin Warns West About 'dramatic' Escalation Of War In Ukraine

Dmitry Peskov. (Source: Kremlin)

JAKARTA - The Kremlin said on Sunday 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.

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

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".

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that Washington had helped Kyiv launch a long-range attack on Russian energy facilities for months.

US intelligence has reportedly helped Kyiv establish a planned route, altitude, time and mission decision, which allows Ukrainian long-range attack drones to evade Russian air defenses.