FIRST ON FOX: As intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops continues on the eastern frontline in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, a senior Ukrainian commander involved in the fighting there has appealed to the Trump administration for Tomahawk missiles.
Maj. Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 225th Battalion in northern Ukraine, is holding the line and hoping for more U.S. support. "The main thing that we need is long-range missiles," Shyriaiev exclusively told Fox News Digital from an undisclosed location in the northeastern Sumy region of Ukraine’s front lines.
"This war is the biggest war in the world since World War II," Major Shyriaiev said. Ukraine’s fight, he stressed, is not just to free itself from Russian aggression.
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Moscow has sought to keep Ukraine in its sphere of influence since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In fending off Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is looking to fulfill their 30-year hope of gaining complete independence from Moscow’s grip.
"For the last 300 years, our confrontation, that is, the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, has been our chance to gain independence. And I am sure that we will win this war," Shyriaiev said.
U.S. long-range Tomahawk missiles would provide a useful option for Ukrainian forces to hold back Russian advances and get a better bargaining position to negotiate an end to the war.
"Bolstering Kyiv's long-range strike capabilities can help the Ukrainians impose greater costs on Moscow and undermine Russian offensive operations. Ultimately, this will provide Ukraine and the United States greater leverage to achieve peace," John Hardie, deputy director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Russia Program, told Fox News Digital.
President Donald Trump at one point hinted he might send Ukraine long-range missiles.
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"If this war doesn’t get settled, I may send Tomahawks," Trump said in October when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House.
In a reversal of this sentiment, the president pulled back and told reporters aboard Air Force One on Nov. 2nd that the U.S. would not be sending Ukraine Tomahawk missiles for now.
Tomahawks have a range of about 1,550 miles, far enough to strike Russian territory. The long-range, subsonic cruise missiles are used to penetrate deep inside enemy territory and are launched from U. S. Navy surface ships and U.S. Navy submarines. Ukraine, for its war effort and lack of a navy, would need ground-based launchers.
So far in over three years of war, the U.S. during the Biden administration feared sending offensive weapons would be seen as an escalatory move by Putin. The Russian president even warned President Trump in a recent phone call against sending such weapons.
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Even if the U.S. doesn’t provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, Major Shyriaiev is resolute in the Ukrainian army’s ability to fend off the Russians.
"I am confident that our armed forces will continue to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty regardless of the type and number of weapons we receive. While I believe that Ukraine would greatly benefit from the distribution of Tomahawk missiles, given the proven precision capability of these weapons, we know there is a lot going on at the political level, and we will defend our nation with all the tools at our disposal," Shyriaiev said.
Shyriaiev is holed up in Sumy, a strategically important oblast that borders Russia, and has been the centerpiece of Ukrainian counteroffensives this fall.
While Russia continues to make steady but slow progress on the battlefield, Ukraine has stalled Russian advances in Sumy. Reclaiming territory held by Russia in Sumy will bolster Ukraine’s position in any negotiation to end the war, a key priority for President Trump.
Shyriaiev described Russia’s tactics across the front lines as meat assaults, possessing enough manpower to overwhelm Ukraine’s much smaller forces, equating the method of throwing Russian soldiers into a meat grinder, and it is achieving some successes.
Even if Russia succeeds in taking Pokrovsk, the major stressed that Russia will suffer heavy losses along the way.
"Every larger town or smaller city will be a serious battle to take, and the Russians will be losing a large number of manpower here in Pokrovsk. So Pokrovsk is one of those places where they will lose a lot of troops and their combat capability will suffer seriously from that," Shyriaiev said.
