Pentagon OKs Tomahawks for Ukraine, Trump Hesitates

The Pentagon has given the White House its approval to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles. The department has assessed that this will not negatively impact the U.S.'s own stockpiles. Now, the final political decision must be made by President Donald Trump, according to three American and European officials.

Earlier, during a working lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Trump had stated that he did not want to provide these missiles to Kyiv because "we don't want to part with what is necessary to defend our country."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff had informed the White House of their positive assessment even before the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president insists that these missiles, with a range of about 1,600 km, are necessary to strike oil and energy facilities deep within Russia more effectively.

The Pentagon's conclusion has encouraged U.S. European allies, who believe that Washington now has fewer excuses not to provide the missiles. This optimism was also fueled by Trump's statement days before the meeting with Zelenskyy that the U.S. has "a lot of Tomahawks" that it could provide to Ukraine.

For this reason, American and European officials were surprised when Trump abruptly changed his position days later, stating at the meeting with Zelenskyy that the Tomahawks are needed by the U.S. itself. During a closed-door meeting, he directly said that they would not be provided for now.

Trump's decision was made one day after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin told Trump that the Tomahawks could reach major Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, and although they would not have a significant impact on the battlefield, they would damage U.S.-Russian relations.

Sources note that Trump has not yet completely removed the provision of the missiles from the agenda, and the administration has developed plans to quickly transfer them if the president gives the order.

Although the Pentagon has no concerns about stockpiles, U.S. defense officials are still seeking solutions for how Ukraine will conduct personnel training and the use of the missiles. A number of operational issues still need to be resolved. The question of how Kyiv will launch the missiles remains open. Tomahawks are usually launched from surface ships or submarines, but Ukraine's navy is severely weakened. Most likely, the missiles will have to be launched from land. The U.S. Marine Corps and Army have developed ground-based launchers that could be provided to Ukraine. European officials are confident that Ukrainian engineers will find solutions, as was the case with the British Storm Shadow missiles, which were successfully integrated with obsolete Soviet-made fighter jets.