The Pentagon has reportedly signed off on Ukraine receiving long-range Tomahawk missiles from the U.S., if that’s what President Donald Trump decides to do.
According to CNN, the War Department has informed the White House that transferring Tomahawks to Kyiv would not harm U.S. stockpiles, effectively clearing the last technical hurdle.
The final call now rests with Trump, who has voiced reluctance to give Ukraine weapons that he says America may need for its own defense.
“I’d rather not provide them because we don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country,” Trump told reporters earlier this month during a White House working lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The decision point comes amid growing pressure from European allies, who argue that the U.S. should let Ukraine strike deep into Russian territory to hasten an end to the war.
The Tomahawk cruise missile, capable of traveling roughly 1,000 miles, would allow Ukrainian forces to target strategic energy and military sites far beyond the front lines.
European officials told CNN that Trump’s shifting stance, first signaling openness to the transfer, then pulling back after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has frustrated NATO members eager to see more forceful U.S. leadership.
Putin reportedly warned Trump that Tomahawks could reach Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, which he said would worsen U.S.-Russia relations without altering the battlefield balance.
Despite the Pentagon’s clearance, Trump has kept the issue open-ended. Sources told CNN the administration has drawn up contingency plans to move the missiles to Ukraine quickly if he gives the order.
In the meantime, Trump has ramped up economic pressure on Moscow, imposing sweeping sanctions on Russian state-owned oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil. That’s the most significant escalation of U.S. sanctions since the invasion began.
“These are tremendous sanctions,” Trump said, according to Politico. “We hope they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.”
European leaders, including Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, have urged Trump to follow through on the Tomahawk transfer.
“Putin believes only in power,” Orpo told Politico, arguing that arming Ukraine would help bring Moscow to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte backed Trump’s cautious approach.
Rutte recently told CNN the Tomahawk system requires months of training, making it unlikely to affect the war soon.
“It is not that if you decide today, Ukrainians can use them tomorrow,” Rutte said, noting Trump was “completely right” to factor in operational limits.
Reuters added context that Russia has been using the 9M729 cruise missile, the same weapon that led Trump to exit the INF Treaty in 2019, in recent attacks on Ukraine.
Kyiv’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s escalation “shows Putin’s disrespect for U.S. diplomacy” and strengthens the case for providing Ukraine with long-range Western systems.
Trump’s Tomahawk decision appears to balance two goals: maintaining U.S. readiness while keeping pressure on Putin through sanctions and diplomacy.
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