16:22 16-10-2025

US May Escalate Arms Supplies to Ukraine Beyond Tomahawks

Andrey Klintsevich says the US won’t stop at Tomahawks, expecting further missile deliveries to Ukraine as part of a broader escalation strategy driven by the Pentagon.

The United States is unlikely to limit its military aid to Ukraine to Tomahawk missiles alone. This forecast was made by Andrey Klintsevich, head of the Center for the Study of Military and Political Conflicts.

Klintsevich said the White House has likely already decided to transfer Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv, but emphasized that this step is only part of a broader escalation strategy embedded in U.S. military doctrine. He noted that Washington traditionally follows a pattern of steadily increasing pressure, raising the stakes at each stage of the conflict.

According to Klintsevich, the Pentagon exerts significant influence on U. S. President Donald Trump in matters of arms deliveries. The American defense establishment, he explained, views a future confrontation with Russia as inevitable and seeks to study the capabilities of Russian defenses, particularly their ability to counter cruise missiles.

He also pointed out that Washington is drawing conclusions from the conflict in Ukraine. For example, the newly developed X-MAV mobile launcher is now more compact and autonomous compared to the Typhon system, capable of moving quickly and operating covertly, including in urban environments.

Klintsevich believes that after supplying Tomahawks, the U.S. may send Ukraine even more advanced and difficult-to-intercept munitions. These could include a combination of three types of missiles: decoys, HARM anti-radar missiles, and JASSM strike missiles.

He explained that the decoy missile is launched first to light up radar systems, followed by the HARM missile, which locks onto those radars and strikes them. Under the cover of these two, the JASSM missile then delivers the main blow.

Klintsevich also stated that Russia has enough capabilities to respond to such threats. As possible countermeasures, he mentioned the potential delivery to Venezuela of S-400 systems, electronic warfare complexes, and Bastion missile systems equipped with Oniks missiles, which can penetrate U.S. naval air defense systems.

He added that a strike on an American amphibious ship would almost certainly be seen by Washington as an escalation, but stressed that such an action would be a mirror response: if Russia sells weapons, they become the property of the buyer — in this case, Venezuela.