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US President Donald Trump made it clear that he wasn’t too eager to send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Instead of focusing on military aid, Trump seemed more interested in pushing for peace talks with Russia.
Trump didn’t completely reject Ukraine’s request for long-range missiles. However, he hinted that the United States might need to keep those weapons for itself in case of “future conflicts.” As reported by The Guardian, Trump sounded calm on the issue and said he was looking forward to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary.
After spending over two hours talking with Zelenskyy, Trump publicly urged both countries to end the fighting immediately, even if it meant Ukraine giving up territory. He said, “You stop at the battle line, and both sides should go home, go to their families. Stop the killing. And that should be it. Stop right now at the battle line. I told that to President Zelenskyy. I told it to President Putin.”
Zelenskyy didn’t back down. He openly told Trump that Ukraine already has thousands of drones ready to strike Russian targets, but still needs American missiles. “We don’t have Tomahawks, that’s why we need Tomahawks,” he stated.
Trump responded cautiously: “We’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks.” He added that the US should not give away weapons it might need for its own defense: “We want Tomahawks, also. We don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country.”
Part of Trump’s hesitation may have come from a recent surprise phone call with Putin, where the Russian president warned that sending Tomahawks to Ukraine would hurt US-Russia relations. Since coming back to office, Trump’s stance on arming Ukraine has shifted multiple times — often after conversations with Putin or European leaders.
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Trump also mentioned that he plans to meet Putin in Hungary soon. Whether Zelenskyy will be involved is still unclear. “There is a lot of bad blood,” Trump admitted.
After the meeting, Trump went online and repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire, writing on Truth Social: “Stop the killing, and make a DEAL! They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!”
Zelenskyy later told reporters he avoided further talks about long-range missiles because the US didn’t want to escalate the war. He said he was being “realistic” about his chances of actually getting them.
Once the meeting ended, Zelenskyy phoned European leaders, telling them that he was counting on Trump to push Putin “to stop this war.”
