Trump Signals Caution on Tomahawks for Ukraine, Hopes Peace Comes First
US President Donald Trump said he hopes the war in Ukraine can be resolved without the need to supply Kyiv with Tomahawk cruise missiles, as he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday.
“Hopefully they won’t need it. Hopefully we’ll get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters while seated with Zelensky in the Cabinet Room. The Ukrainian president arrived in a dark suit and shirt; the two briefly posed outside the West Wing but did not respond to press questions.
The meeting followed Trump’s announcement of a new summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and fresh skepticism about sending Tomahawks to Kyiv. Ukraine has been pressing the US for weeks for the long-range missiles, arguing they could strengthen their leverage against Russia after more than three years of war.
However, on the eve of Zelensky’s visit, Putin urged Trump by phone not to provide the weapons, warning it could escalate the conflict and undermine talks. Trump echoed reservations, saying the US could not “deplete” its stock of Tomahawks.
New Putin-Trump Summit Planned
Trump and Putin have agreed to hold their next summit in Budapest, the Hungarian capital. It would be their first face-to-face meeting since a failed Alaska summit in August that produced no progress on peace efforts.
Diplomatic talks have largely been stalled since then. Ukraine hoped Zelensky’s Washington trip would increase pressure on Russia and result in Washington approving Tomahawks, which can strike targets up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away.
Trump, who previously boasted he could end the war in “24 hours,” appears focused on trying to secure a diplomatic breakthrough following last week’s Gaza ceasefire deal he helped broker.
The Kremlin said Friday that “many questions” still need to be clarified before the Budapest summit — such as the composition of each side’s negotiating teams — but dismissed concerns about Putin’s travel amid an ICC arrest warrant.
Hungarian President Viktor Orbán said Budapest would guarantee Putin’s entry and ability to hold successful talks with the United States, calling it the only viable European venue for such a summit.
Evolving Trump-Zelensky Ties
This is Zelensky’s third visit to Washington since Trump returned to the presidency. Trump’s stance on Ukraine has shifted multiple times over his term.
At the outset, he and Putin appeared aligned, with Trump publicly attacking Zelensky as a “dictator without elections.” Tensions spiked in February when Trump, in a televised meeting at the Oval Office, claimed Zelensky “did not have the cards.”
The tone has since softened as Trump’s frustration with Putin has grown. Still, he has kept a direct communication line open with the Russian leader and frequently adjusted his positions on sanctions and other measures after speaking with Putin.
State of the War
Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, calling it a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine and block NATO expansion. Kyiv and European allies call it an illegal invasion marked by massive destruction and heavy civilian and military casualties.
Russia currently controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, much of it devastated by fighting. On Friday, Russia’s defense ministry reported it had captured three additional villages in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.
News Source : Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
