Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) on Monday accused War Secretary Pete Hegseth of throttling controversial Ukrainian military action against Russia that the congressman said is backed by President Donald Trump.
“The White House authorized long-range Ukrainian strikes into Russia,” Bacon wrote in a post to X. “But, the Pentagon routinely blocks. Who is the Commander in Chief?”
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In July, Trump agreed to a plan to sell billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. weapons, including long-range Patriot missile systems, to NATO allies to send to Ukraine. Weeks after the plan was announced, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hegseth was blocking Ukraine’s use of U.S.-made long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Bacon, who is serving his final term in Congress, has emerged as a consistent critic of Trump’s tariff policy and other matters since the president took office in January.
His accusations of Hegseth stalling Trump-backed policies surrounding the Ukrainian war came after Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, said the president endorsed Ukraine carrying out long-range missile attacks against Russia.
“The answer is yes, use the ability to hit deep, there are no such things as sanctuaries,” the special envoy said during a Fox News interview.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Trump to supply Kyiv with valuable U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk missiles to use against Russia. The Tomahawk missile’s range of roughly 1,500 miles would place Moscow well within the range of Kyiv.
Kellogg spoke favorably of granting the request for Tomahawks while reiterating that the final decision belongs to Trump, who is still weighing the matter. Vice President JD Vance suggested that it could be approved over the weekend, saying the United States is “asking the Europeans to buy that weaponry that shows some European skin in the game” and gets them “really invested” in backing the peace deal Trump is seeking to end the Ukraine war.
During a Monday press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that any U.S. involvement in firing Tomahawk missiles deep into Russia posed a distinct risk of escalating the Ukraine conflict into a broader war.
“The question … is this: Who can launch these missiles? … Can only Ukrainians launch them, or do American soldiers have to do that?” Peskov said. “Who is determining the targeting of these missiles? The American side or the Ukrainians themselves?”
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Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian legislature’s defense committee, said any U.S. military specialists who helped Ukraine to launch Tomahawks against Russia would become targets for Moscow, according to Reuters.
“And no one will protect them,” he said. “Not Trump, not Kellogg, nor anyone else.”