Trump signals he might not be ready to send Kyiv Tomahawk missiles
US President Donald Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks at the White House on Friday, with the US leader signalling he is not ready to agree to sell Kyiv a long-range missile system that the Ukrainians say they desperately need.
Mr Zelensky gets his one-on-one with Mr Trump a day after the US president and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy phone call to discuss the conflict.
In recent days, Mr Trump had shown an openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, even as Mr Putin warned that such a move would further strain the US-Russian relationship.
But following Thursday’s call with Mr Putin, Mr Trump appeared to downplay the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles, which have a range of about 995 miles (1,600km).
“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too,” Mr Trump said.
“We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can’t deplete our country.”
Mr Zelensky had been seeking the weapons that would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deep into Russian territory and target key military sites, energy facilities and critical infrastructure.
He has argued that such strikes would help compel Mr Putin to take Mr Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.
But Mr Putin warned Mr 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, Mr Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said that talk of providing Tomahawks had already served a purpose by pushing Mr Putin into talks.
“The conclusion is that we need to continue with strong steps. Strength can truly create momentum for peace,” Mr Sybiha said on X on Thursday.
Ukrainian officials have also indicated that Mr Zelensky plans to appeal to Mr Trump’s economic interests by aiming to discuss the possibility of energy deals with the US.
Mr Zelensky is looking to offer to store American liquefied natural gas in Ukraine’s gas storage facilities, which would allow for 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, leading him to post on X that it is important to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure after Russian attacks and expand “the presence of American businesses in Ukraine”.
It will be the fourth face-to-face meeting for Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky since the Republican returned to office in January, and their second in less than a month.
Mr Trump announced following Thursday’s call with Mr Putin that he would soon meet with the Russian leader in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss ways to end the war.
The two also agreed that their senior aides, including secretary of state Marco Rubio, would meet next week at an unspecified location.
Fresh from brokering a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas, Mr Trump has said finding an endgame to the war in Ukraine is now his top foreign policy priority and has expressed new confidence about the prospects of getting it done.
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