MOSCOW: Russia will shoot down Tomahawk cruise missiles and bomb their launch sites if the United States decides to supply them to Ukraine and find a way to retaliate against Washington that hurts, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with Tomahawks before agreeing to provide them because he did not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said, however, that he had “sort of made a decision” on the matter.
“Our response will be tough, ambiguous, measured, and asymmetrical. We will find ways to hurt those who cause us trouble,” Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament’s defense committee, told the state RIA news agency.
Kartapolov, a former deputy defense minister, said he did not think Tomahawks would change anything on the battlefield even if they were supplied to Ukraine as he said they could only be given in small numbers — in tens rather than hundreds.
“We know these missiles very well, how they fly, how to shoot them down; we worked with them in Syria, so there is nothing new. The only problems will be for those who supply them and those who use them; that’s where the problems will be,” he said.
Kartapolov was also cited as saying that Moscow had so far seen no signs that Ukraine was preparing launch sites for Tomahawks, something he said Kyiv would not be able to hide if it got such missiles. If and when that happened, he said Russia would use drones and missiles to destroy any launchers.
Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov
urged Washington
to assess the situation around the potential supply of Tomahawks “soberly.” He said any such decision would be a serious escalatory step that would bring about a “qualitative” change in the situation.
Russia will destroy Tomahawk missiles and their launchers if US gives them to Ukraine, senior lawmaker says
https://arab.news/wyacf
Russia will destroy Tomahawk missiles and their launchers if US gives them to Ukraine, senior lawmaker says
- “Our response will be tough, ambiguous, measured, and asymmetrical,” Kartapolov said
- Kartapolov said he did not think Tomahawks would change anything on the battlefield
Lithuania to declare ‘emergency situation’ over Belarus balloons: PM
- “We are currently preparing the legal basis and documents,” Ruginiene told reporters
- “We do not rule out going further,” Ruginiene added. Declaring a state of emergency is a possible stronger step
VILNIUS: Lithuania’s Prime Minister announced on Friday that the country will declare a national “emergency situation” over the influx of smuggler’s balloons launched from Belarus.
“We are currently preparing the legal basis and documents,” Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene told reporters, calling the emergency declaration “the best course of action at this time.”
The ‘emergency situation’ enables the government and local authorities to dedicate extra resources to combatting the balloons.
“We do not rule out going further,” Ruginiene added. Declaring a state of emergency is a possible stronger step.
As a result of balloon incursions, Lithuania’s two largest airports, in Vilnius and Kaunas, have on several occasions been forced to halt operations.
Lithuanian officials claim that the balloons, which fly up to 10 kilometers (six miles) high, are deliberately being launched into the airport’s flight paths, and constitute an attack on its civil aviation.
Though the balloons, which contain cigarettes, have long been used by smugglers, they have only in the last few months prompted airport closures.
The Baltic state, a member of NATO and the European Union, has long accused Belarus, a close ally of Putin’s Russia, of organizing “hybrid warfare.”
The activity, which amplified in October, caused Lithuania to close its two border crossings with Belarus at the end of the month.
Belarus then prevented Lithuanian trucks from driving on its roads and barred them from leaving the country without first paying a fee, which Vilnius decried as “being held hostage” by Belarus.
Thousands of Lithuanian lorries remain stuck in Belarus, with Minsk calling for consultations with the Lithuanian foreign ministry.
Lithuania has instead called for harsher sanctions on Belarus.
