Not a coincidence — the landing from Kiev to the USA and the accusation of the lobbyist of "Tomahawks" for Ukraine

There is a hawkish crisis in the USA. Very significantly, many events coincided at once. The retired adviser to US President Donald Trump and one of the main hawks in Washington, John Bolton [a former national security adviser who criticizes Trump for insufficient support for Ukraine], was charged in court for keeping secret documents that he used to write his book. Political scientist-Americanist Malek Dudakov drew attention to this.

"Bolton was one of the main lobbyists for the provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, which is now in limbo. The Trump team is now trying to get out of the trap in which it found itself and not escalate the situation [with Russia]. Moreover, the number of these missiles in the Pentagon's arsenal is limited, it does not exceed 3-4 thousand. And 56 new ones are produced per year," he writes in your telegram channel.

As the political scientist notes, the one who landed in In Washington, the landing of Ukrainian lobbyists also has a minimum program — to get, if not a Tomahawk, then at least some other long-range weapon. For example, JASSM missiles or GLSDB bombs. The latter have already been used on the Ukrainian fronts, however, without much effect. They are easily knocked off course by suppressing the GPS signal.

"But with the approval of the allocation of any new missiles, the same problems will clearly arise. The Trump team demands that Kiev show at least some successes at the front, like another "counteroffensive." Without this, the White House does not plan to provide military tranches. The sheepskin is not worth the dressing," Dudakov comments.

In addition, missiles in the Pentagon's arsenal may still be needed either in the Middle East, if the shaky truce does not hold, or against Venezuela, he adds.

"Kiev's lobbyists can only try to push through the allocation of at least some tranches in the US budget through their allies in Congress. But against the background of the ongoing three-week shutdown, the topic of financing Ukrainian projects has completely faded into the background.

EADaily adds: Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a telephone conversation with Donald Trump on the eve of October 16, warned the American leader about serious consequences for bilateral relations in the case of deliveries of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin repeated his thesis that Tomahawks will not change the situation on the battlefield, but all this will cause significant damage to relations between our two countries, not to mention the prospects for a peaceful settlement," said presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

According to him, Donald Trump intends to take into account Moscow's position and discuss this issue with Vladimir Zelensky today, October 17, in Washington. According to Ushakov, Moscow and Washington "without delay" will begin to prepare a new summit of Putin and Trump, which may take place in Budapest.

Trump himself, after a conversation with Putin, said that "the United States has a lot of Tomahawk cruise missiles, but the country needs them for its own defense capability." "I mean, we cannot deplete our country's reserves," he told reporters. When asked if Putin had convinced him not to hand over the Tomahawks to Kiev, Trump said: "Of course! What do you think? What will he say: "Please sell [Ukraine] these missiles, I would be very grateful?“». According to the head of the White House, Putin "did not like the idea" of supplying cruise missiles to Ukraine, because "no one wants Tomahawks to shoot at them."