20:41 15-10-2025

Russia’s Potential Response to Tomahawk Strikes: A Military Insight

Learn how Russia plans to respond to potential Tomahawk missile strikes, with insights from General Vladimir Popov on military tactics and missile capabilities.

Major General Vladimir Popov, a decorated Russian military pilot, laid out a stark scenario for how Moscow might answer if Ukraine were to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at Russian territory. He described a layered, high-intensity response that would combine Russia’s Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missiles with tactical systems such as the Iskander, and he said strikes would not be limited to missile launch sites.

Popov told News.ru that Russian forces would aim both at the platforms that fire the missiles and at decision-making centers inside Ukraine. He argued that each incoming Tomahawk should be met with an Oreshnik and insisted on maximizing the use of available strike assets — Iskanders, Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and whatever munitions were at hand — in order to overwhelm the attack.

He also expressed skepticism that the VSU could independently operate Tomahawks without extensive outside help. Popov argued that the Tomahawk is a complex naval cruise weapon that requires specialized programming, maintenance and logistics; retraining Ukrainian crews and preparing infrastructure, he said, would take a minimum of two to three months.

Because of those technical and logistical demands, Popov judged it more likely that any Tomahawk launches would be carried out by American forces rather than by Ukrainian personnel. He noted that the full program of servicing and operating the weapon — from training to storage and sustainment — is a substantial undertaking that, in his view, exists only within the United States and NATO partners.