Trump signals US won’t supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine
President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks at the White House on Friday, with the US leader signalling he’s not ready to agree to sell Kyiv a long-range missile system that the Ukrainians say they desperately need.
Zelenskyy arrived with top aides to discuss the latest developments with Trump over lunch, a day after the US President and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy phone call to discuss the conflict. At the start of the talks, Zelenskyy congratulated Trump over landing last week’s ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza and said Trump now has “momentum” to stop the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“President Trump now has a big chance to finish this war,” Zelenskyy added.
In recent days, Trump had shown an openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, even as Putin warned that such a move would further strain the US-Russian relationship.
But following Thursday’s call with Putin, Trump appeared to downplay the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles, which have a range of about 1,600 km.
“We need Tomahawks for the USA too,” Trump said. “We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean we can’t deplete our country.” Zelenskyy had been seeking the weapons, which would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deep into Russian territory and target key military sites, energy facilities and critical infrastructure. Zelenskyy has argued that the potential for such strikes would help compel Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.
But Putin warned Trump during the call that supplying Kyiv with the Tomahawks “won’t change the situation on the battlefield, but would cause substantial damage to the relationship between our countries”, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said talk of providing Tomahawks had already served a purpose by pushing Putin into talks. “The conclusion is that we need to continue with strong steps. Strength can truly create momentum for peace,” Sybiha said on X late Thursday.
Ukrainian officials have also indicated that Zelenskyy plans to appeal to Trump’s economic interests by aiming to discuss the possibility of energy deals with the US.
Zelenskyy is expected to offer to store American liquefied natural gas in Ukraine’s gas storage facilities, which would allow for an American presence in the European energy market. He previewed the strategy on Thursday in meetings with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the heads of American energy companies.
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