U.S. approval for strikes inside Russia refers to ATACMS, not Tomahawks — Manhattan University professor

Manhattan University professor Igor Aizenberg said this on Espreso TV.

"I think that General Keith Kellogg was referring to strikes with ATACMS missiles, which Ukraine already has in its arsenal. As for the Tomahawk, it is a sea-based missile. The U.S. had a ground-based version of these missiles, and there were many of them, but they were all destroyed in accordance with the 1987 U.S.-Soviet treaty, and their production was stopped. Russia violated this treaty after the collapse of the Soviet Union, so the U.S. withdrew from it in 2019 and began developing new launchers to fire Tomahawks from the ground," Aizenberg noted.

According to the Manhattan University professor, the first Typhon launchers for Tomahawk missiles entered service with the U.S. Army in 2024. As far as is known, only two batteries were deployed at that time: one in the Philippines, the other in the U.S. In July of last year, President Joe Biden made a decision to deploy such a battery in Germany in 2026. There is speculation that Donald Trump, during a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, promised that Ukraine could also receive such systems. However, their production is currently just ramping up.

"If Trump supports this decision, even if it is made next year—for example, Germany could buy these systems for subsequent transfer to Ukraine—I think no one will object to this," Aizenberg added.

• President Trump has authorized long-range strikes into Russia, General Keith Kellogg says, though Ukraine hasn’t always received Pentagon approval to carry them out.