WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump left the door open to providing Ukraine with long-range missiles known as Tomahawks that would give it the ability to strike deep into Russian territory, signaling he could use the possibility as part of his effort to end the more than three-year-old war between the countries.
Speaking to reporters on his way to the Middle East on Sunday, Trump indicated that he is considering warning Russia and presumably its president, Vladimir Putin, that the U.S. could supply Ukraine with the long-range missiles if it appears the war is no closer to coming to an end.
”I might have to speak to Russia to be honest with you about Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.”
Asked specifically if is thinking about speaking with Putin first before potentially making the move, Trump signaled it could be used as a warning.
“I might say: ‘Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” he said.
The U.S. president stressed that the long-range missiles are an “incredible” and “very offensive weapon” and that providing them would mark a “new step of aggression.” He noted that Ukraine has made clear it wants the missiles and said he discussed it with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend.
Zelenskyy noted in a post on X that he and Trump spoke twice in two days over the weekend, calling the conversations “productive” and saying they discussed Ukraine’s air defense, “long-range capability” and energy.
”We agreed to continue our conversation, and the teams are getting ready,” he added.
As he celebrates his successful effort to get Israel and Hamas to agree to the first phase of his proposal for peace in the Gaza Strip, Trump has noted his desire to do the same with the war in Ukraine, which he often laments has been harder to end than he anticipated.
In a post on X on Monday, Zelenskyy welcomed the development in Gaza, noting the “leadership and determination” of Trump in making it happen and wishing the same for his country.
”We are working so that the day of peace comes for Ukraine as well,” the Ukrainian leader wrote. “Russian aggression remains the last global source of destabilization, and if a ceasefire and peace have been achieved for the Middle East, the leadership and determination of global actors can certainly work for us too, in Ukraine, in Europe.”
Over the weekend, however, Zelenskyy accused Russia of “pouncing on the opportunity that global diplomacy’s eyes are on the Middle East” with attacks.
Putin earlier this month sought to make clear that the possibility of the Trump administration providing long-range missiles to Ukraine would mark an escalation and damage relations between Russia and the U.S. He insisted nonetheless that it wouldn’t make a difference on the battlefield.
In what marked a significant policy shift, then-President Joe Biden’s administration signed off on allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russian territory in Nov. 2024 after resisting calls from Zelenskyy and other European leaders to authorize such a move for months.
Trump previously criticized the decision before then slamming Biden a few weeks ago for what he said was not allowing Ukraine to go on offense against Russia in the war and instead only defend itself.
”It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in August. “Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND.”
Trump, whose very publicly-shakey relationship with Zelenskyy has appeared on better footing on better footing in recent weeks, has been expressing frustration with Putin as the U.S. leader’s efforts to end the war has seemingly not made much progress, even in the wake of him hosting the Russian president for a summit in Alaska.
Trump at different points has talked about imposing secondary tariffs or sanctions on Russia if the war continues and it does not agree to a ceasefire but has subsequently let several of the deadlines he set for himself to do so pass.