Giving Ukraine Long-Range Missiles Will Escalate Russian War, Trump Says
President Donald Trump believes supplying long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine will escalate its ongoing war with Russia.
Trump stated this on Friday while hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House for talks on the conflict.
Speaking to reporters ahead of their closed-door meeting, Trump said, “We’ll be talking about that — it’s an escalation, but we’ll be talking about it.”
“Giving Ukraine Tomahawks could mean bigger escalation, a lot of bad things can happen,” he added.
Trump said that while Ukraine has pushed for the U.S. to supply Tomahawk missiles capable of striking targets up to 2,000 kilometres away, the U.S. “don’t want to be giving away things we need to protect our country.”
The comment followed a two-hour phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, during which both leaders agreed to meet in Hungary in the coming weeks.
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According to Trump, Putin “wants to get [the war] ended,” and Zelenskyy “wants to get it ended,” adding, “Now we have to get it done.”
During the meeting, Zelenskyy congratulated Trump on brokering the Gaza ceasefire and said he believed the U.S. president could help bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
“I think we can end this war with your help,” the Ukrainian leader said.
He also floated the idea of a weapons exchange, suggesting that Ukraine could provide drones to the United States in return for Tomahawk missiles.
“This is a technological war,” Zelensky said, stressing that Kyiv needed advanced weaponry and air defence systems to resist Russian attacks.
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Trump appeared to like the idea, saying, “They make a very good drone,” but cautioned that America must remain “completely stocked up” on its own weapons.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has already described any transfer of U.S. Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine as a “major escalation.”
Russian forces have in recent months expanded their hold over parts of eastern Ukraine, particularly in Luhansk and Donetsk, while continuing heavy air strikes on Ukraine and other major cities.
