According to the WSJ, Trump plans to start supplying Ukraine with medium-range long-range missiles for massive strikes on production facilities in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Chelyabinsk.
Following the failure of negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump intends to maximize the use of military force and sanctions to compel Putin to end his four-year aggression against Ukraine. Russia possesses significant production capabilities, but they are concentrated more than 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, making it impossible to target these facilities without long-range weapons. Ukraine has attempted to attack military targets up to 1,000 kilometers inside Russia using drones, but their weak warheads and slow speed make such attacks largely ineffective.
According to informed sources, Trump is prepared to deploy all available U.S. military resources, except nuclear weapons, to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory. The first phase involves transferring several hundred JASSM-ER missiles to Ukraine, with a stated range of about 1,000 kilometers. These missiles are planned to be launched from F-16 aircraft, several dozen of which Trump also intends to provide to Ukraine as part of the first aid package. The goal is to enable Ukraine to carry out massive long-range missile strikes (several dozen cruise missiles per salvo) on Moscow and St. Petersburg, where key design bureaus and production facilities for military equipment, such as Iskander ballistic missiles, are located.
The second phase, to be implemented if Putin refuses to agree to fair terms for ending the conflict after the first phase, involves supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk long-range missiles capable of striking targets at distances of several thousand kilometers, along with mobile launch containers for mass launches. The primary targets would be armored vehicle production facilities in the Urals, in cities like Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.