Melnyk assesses whether Ukraine can get Tomahawks and whether one type of weapon can turn the tide of war

Today, Ukraine is seeking not only new types of weapons from its Western partners, but also permission to use them to strike at Russian territory. In particular, the topic of a possible transfer of Tomahawk cruise missiles has been raised in the information space.

According to military expert Oleksiy Melnyk, at this stage, the likelihood of receiving Tomahawks is low. He said this in an interview with OBOZ.UA.

Melnyk noted that one type of weapon cannot turn the tide of war. He cited the example of HIMARS and ATACMS, which are extremely effective in a certain period until the enemy adapts and develops a system to reduce the effect of using such weapons.

At the same time, the military expert emphasized that even if it is a short-term advantage, it is still very important, because at some point certain types of weapons can accumulate and bring the tipping point closer.

"Unfortunately, I don't share the optimism about the near-term prospects of getting Tomahawks. Watching this saga around ATACMS, authorizations, bans, withdrawals of authorizations, and then denials, I'm afraid we're going to have a similar story with Tomahawks. Although recent events may speed up these processes," Melnyk said.

He also added that the resolve of Ukraine's Western partners may be affected by Russia's increased cooperation with Iran and North Korea. In particular, Tehran's transfer of ballistic missiles could speed up the decision-making process to lift restrictions on the use of ATACMS on Russian territory.

As a reminder, the UK will allow Ukraine to launch Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia. However, this will not be officially announced in the near future to avoid "unnecessary provocations."

Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden said he did not rule out that Ukraine could receive permission to strike deep into Russian territory with American weapons. However, Washington prefers to take into account "all factors."

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