At the same time, Moscow and Kyiv are targeting each other’s energy systems with increasing numbers of attacks by drones and missiles ahead of winter.
Ukraine sees the U.S. long-range cruise missiles as a deterrent to make Moscow think twice about attacking, not least because it would signal to the Kremlin that Washington is firmly in Kyiv’s camp.
And now the U.S. seems to be coming onboard with Ukraine’s thinking. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Washington already has a plan on supplying Tomahawks to Kyiv.
“If there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
Trump’s remark on Kyiv wanting “to go offensive” comes days after Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief, suggested publicly that limited incursions and counteroffensive operations can be undertaken, but they often fail to deliver long-term success.
In an opinion article, Zaluzhny took issue with Ukraine’s 2024 cross-border operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. “I don’t know the cost of such actions, but it is clear that it was too high,” he said. Zaluzhny, now Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain, suggested that large-scale counteroffensives are hampered by a “lack of resource provision,” including insufficient manpower, and that gathering sufficient forces in place to aim for a breakthrough is difficult as they will quickly be spotted by the enemy.