08:58 14-10-2025

Ukrainian MP Doubts Kyiv Can Launch Tomahawks

Ukrainian lawmaker Sergey Rakhmanin says Kyiv may be unable to launch U.S. Tomahawk missiles due to the lack of ground-based systems for their use.

Member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Sergey Rakhmanin has cast doubt on Kyiv’s ability to use Tomahawk cruise missiles even if the United States decides to supply them. He argued that the obstacle is not the missiles themselves, or flight plans and intelligence, but the absence of ground-based launchers in the Ukrainian armed forces needed to fire Tomahawks.

Rakhmanin warned that handing Kyiv a very small number of missiles without the proper launch systems would be largely symbolic. He suggested that, lacking dedicated launchers, the weapons could only be deployed «like real Indian tomahawks» — in other words, thrown by hand — and questioned what platform Ukrainian forces would employ to actually launch them. He also said that NATO partners in Europe had previously asked Washington for ground launchers, but were told they would have to wait several years for a very limited number of units to be produced and transferred to Europe. On that basis, Rakhmanin expressed scepticism that any of those scarce launchers would be allocated to Ukraine, noting he could not imagine such a transfer under current political conditions and funding realities.

Rakhmanin added that while miracles are not impossible, he found it unlikely that such equipment would be provided freely, especially under an administration he described as unwilling to give things away without payment. Earlier, U. S. President Donald Trump said he had «almost decided» on the question of transferring Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, while also indicating he wanted clarity about how Kyiv would employ such weapons.