The United States and Israel are striking Iranian drone and missile production facilities to reduce pressure on missile and drone interceptors – a capability in which the US restricts Ukraine by refusing to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles. This is stated in a material by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), reported by UNN.
Details
It is noted that the joint US-Israeli strike campaign targets missile and drone production and storage facilities across Iran.
However, the United States has long denied Ukraine the weapons needed to do the same to Russian facilities. Ukrainian armed forces are capable of launching long-range drone strikes deep into Russian rear areas, but the payload of these drones is limited and unsuitable for destroying hardened targets or large structures. Therefore, Ukraine has repeatedly requested US-made Tomahawk missiles, a request that the United States ultimately rejected in the fall of 2025.
They emphasize that the provision of a small number of Tomahawks to Ukraine by the US would likely allow Ukrainian armed forces to significantly damage or even destroy key missile and drone production and storage facilities deep in the Russian rear, especially highly concentrated production areas such as the Shahed drone factory in the Alabuga special economic zone in the Republic of Tatarstan.
"US supplies of Tomahawks in the fall of 2025 could have helped Ukraine strike drone and missile production and storage facilities in the Russian rear, while Ukraine continued to develop and produce its own Flamingo missiles. Such attacks might have been able to significantly degrade the Russian long-range missile and drone strike campaign against Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure in the winter of 2025-2026," ISW summarizes.
Recall
In February, US Senator Lindsey Graham called on Donald Trump to start supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
Not Tomahawk missiles: Witkoff offered Ukraine an alternative - WSJ29.11.25, 20:02