OPINION:
President Trump is considering providing Ukraine’s forces with U.S. Tomahawk missiles, which could well have a strategic effect on the Russian war against Ukraine. His consideration doesn’t match NATO’s timid response to Russian incursions into NATO members’ airspace.
Mr. Trump has signed an order allowing U.S. agencies to provide intelligence that will aid Ukrainian strikes deeper into Russian territory and is asking our NATO allies to do the same. He told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he would consider Ukraine’s request for Tomahawks.
Tomahawks, which have a range of up to about 1,500 miles, could extend Ukraine’s ability to strike at Russian oil export and refining facilities. Most Tomahawks carry a 1,000-pound warhead, which can obviously destroy large targets. Since earlier this year, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries have reportedly caused some gasoline shortages in Russia. They have also reportedly significantly damaged Russian oil export facilities, curtailing output. The Tomahawks could reach out to more Russian oil facilities and threaten Russia’s economy.
Russia depends on its oil and gas exports to support its economy and finance the war. Many of our NATO allies, Turkey in particular, are importing massive amounts of Russian oil.
Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has said that providing Tomahawks to Ukraine would be a “completely new stage of escalation” of the war. So far, Mr. Trump hasn’t approved their shipment to Ukraine.
Our NATO allies have not yet agreed to send more long-range missiles to Ukraine. They are waiting to see what Mr. Trump does. So are Messrs. Zelenskyy and Putin. NATO has not even agreed on how it should respond to Russia’s incursions by drones and fighter jets into its airspace.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has warned Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal that invoking Article 4 of NATO too often would dull its impact. Seriously? Article 4 establishes the right to consultations among NATO allies when any one of them feels threatened. Mr. Rutte should know better.
The warning came after a Russian incursion into Estonian airspace by three MiG-31 fighters, which, as I have previously written, were flying into Estonian airspace without their transponders turned on. This was a highly aggressive move by Mr. Putin, as were the drone incursions into Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, Denmark and Germany.
Russia has, of course, denied that its actions escalated the Ukraine war; this is entirely false. So are Russia’s denials that many of the incursions were by its drones.
Mr. Trump has declared that Ukraine could retake all its territory from Russia, which would include the decade-old seizure of the Crimean Peninsula. The odds against Ukraine’s retaking territory seized by Russia are astronomical. The real question is whether Ukraine can do that without the Tomahawk missiles and other long-range strike weapons.
The Trump administration recently approved the sale to Ukraine of the Extended Range Attack Munition, which has a range of up to 280 miles. Approving the sale of Tomahawks to Ukraine would increase that strike capability by nearly six times that range and, possibly, allow Ukraine to recover some of its territory.
After the drone swarm incursion into Polish airspace, NATO has approved the Eastern Sentry operation, which involves increasing its defenses along the alliance’s eastern borders with military equipment from France, Germany, Britain and other nations, as well as a few fighters from Germany, France and Denmark.
On Sept. 14, Mr. Rutte and NATO’s military boss, U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, announced the operation at a joint press conference. He said, “Integrated and layered air defenses, both air and ground-based, will be key as we move forward.” He added, “This is an issue that impacts all of the alliance, and we will treat it as such.” But will Eastern Sentry be effective?
Mr. Trump, as this column has written many times, wants to be remembered as a peacemaker. His efforts to settle the two-year war by Hamas terrorists against Israel must succeed or, in Mr. Trump’s words, there will be hell to pay. Still, his patience with Mr. Putin seems endless.
Mr. Trump should approve the sale of Tomahawks to Ukraine. By doing so, he could help end the more than 3-year-old war. Russia has recently increased its drone strikes against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities by an enormous margin. President Biden was all too comfortable with the Russian stalemate with Ukraine.
Approval of the Tomahawks for Ukraine could help salvage the country and might break the stalemate.
• Jed Babbin is a national security and foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Times and a contributing editor for The American Spectator.
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