MOSCOW -- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that if the United States decides to provide "Tomahawk" cruise missiles to Ukraine, it will escalate the situation in Ukraine to a new level.

Peskov said that the topic of providing "Tomahawk" cruise missiles has been repeatedly raised recently, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov having made remarks on the issue on multiple occasions.

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"This will be a key driver for a new round of escalation of the situation in Ukraine," he noted, emphasizing that Russia's stance is crystal clear, and both the United States and Ukraine are well aware of it.

Peskov pointed out that in the event of a threat of "Tomahawk" cruise missile attacks, Russia will make every effort to ensure its own security, adding that Russia do its utmost to continue the special military operation until all objectives are achieved.

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Peskov also noted that if there is an opportunity to shift the Ukraine issue onto a "political and diplomatic" settlement track, Russia will take such a step.

US President Donald Trump confirmed that he is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House this Friday. The two are expected to discuss the US provision of "Tomahawk" cruise missiles to Ukraine, though Trump has not yet made a final commitment on the matter. 

Russian journalist killed

Seperately, a Russian war correspondent was killed and another injured in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Zaporizhzhia region while carrying out a journalistic assignment, Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.

Ivan Zuyev, a journalist with RIA Novosti, was killed on Thursday while on assignment, and his colleague Yuri Voitkevich sustained serious injuries, said the agency.

"Ivan is gone. This is our third loss among our corps of military correspondents," said Dmitry Kiselev, general director of the Rossiya Segodnya media group. "He was an extremely experienced and talented journalist."

Previously, RIA Novosti correspondents Andrei Stenin and Rostislav Zhuravlev were killed separately in 2014 and 2023.

Earlier this year, Russian war correspondent Alexander Martemyanov was killed and four other media workers were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on Jan 4.