Russia will destroy Tomahawk missiles and their launchers if US gives them to Ukraine, senior lawmaker says

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia will shoot down Tomahawk cruise missiles and bomb their launch sites if the United States decides to supply them to Ukraine and find a way to retaliate against Washington that hurts, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with Tomahawks before agreeing to provide them because he did not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said, however, that he had "sort of made a decision" on the matter.

"Our response will be tough, ambiguous, measured, and asymmetrical. We will find ways to hurt those who cause us trouble," Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament's defence committee, told the state RIA news agency.

Kartapolov, a former deputy defence minister, said he did not think Tomahawks would change anything on the battlefield even if they were supplied to Ukraine as he said they could only be given in small numbers - in tens rather than hundreds.

"We know these missiles very well, how they fly, how to shoot them down; we worked with them in Syria, so there is nothing new. The only problems will be for those who supply them and those who use them; that's where the problems will be," he said.

Kartapolov was also cited as saying that Moscow had so far seen no signs that Ukraine was preparing launch sites for Tomahawks, something he said Kyiv would not be able to hide if it got such missiles. If and when that happened, he said Russia would use drones and missiles to destroy any launchers.

Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov urged Washington to assess the situation around the potential supply of Tomahawks "soberly". He said any such decision would be a serious escalatory step that would bring about a "qualitative" change in the situation.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)