President Donald Trump said that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed during a Sunday phone call the possibility of Ukraine obtaining long-range Tomahawk missiles.
But Trump, speaking to reporters on board Air Force Once en route to Israel, said he might speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about it first — because it would be a “step up” in the war.
Long-range Tomahawk missiles would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia, including Moscow.
“I might have to speak to Russia, to be honest with you, about Tomahawks. Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so,” Trump said. “I think I might speak to Russia about that, in all fairness. I told that to President Zelenskyy, because Tomahawks are a new step of aggression. You understand that.”
“Yeah, I might tell him that if the war is not settled, that we may very well — we may not, but we may do it,” he added. “I think it’s appropriate to bring up. I want to see the war settled.”
The president’s comments represent his strongest to date on the possibility of selling Tomahawk missiles to fellow NATO countries, who will then supply them to Ukraine. Trump had previously said that he wants to know what Ukraine plans to do with the Tomahawk missiles because he doesn’t want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, in an interview with Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” after the call, said that he was waiting for the president to decide on the Tomahawks.
“We work on it,” he said. “And I’m waiting for president to yes. Of course, we count on such decisions, but we will see. We will see.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, in remarks published Sunday, said, “The topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern.”
“Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” Peskov said.
Follow