Trump's President May Agree To The Delivery Of Tomahawk To Ukraine If The War Is Not Over

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday he might notify Russian President Vladimir Putin he could supply Ukraine with Tomahawk long-range missiles if the war is not over yet.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to Israel, President Trump said he wanted to ensure Ukraine had a new supply of weapons at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"They want to have the Tomahawk missile. That's progress," said President Trump.

The Tomahawk missile has a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), far enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.

The Kremlin has warned against the supply of any Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, while President Trump on Sunday said the missile would be a "new aggression step" if used in the war.

The United States will not sell missiles directly to Ukraine, but give them to NATO, which could then offer them to Ukraine, Trump said.

"Yes, I might tell him (President Putin), if the war is not over yet, we might do it," he said.

"Maybe not, but we will probably do it. Do they want the Tomahawk missile to be directed at them? I don't think so," he said.

President Zelensky previously said Ukraine would only use the Tomahawk missile for military purposes and would not attack civilians in Russia if the US provided it.

"We have never attacked their civilians. This is a big difference between Ukraine and Russia," the Ukrainian leader said in Fox News' "Sunday Briefing" program.

"That's why, if we talk about (missiles) remotely, we're just talking about military goals."

President Zelensky's comments, recorded on Saturday, aired on Sunday after his two talks in a few days with President Trump.

The Ukrainian leader said they were still discussing the possibility that Washington would provide Kyiv with the long-range missile.

President Trump said last week, before agreeing to deliver the Tomahawk missile, he wanted to know how Ukraine would use it because he did not want to escalate the escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

On the other hand, President Zelensky said he was still trying to convince President Trump to agree to the missile deal.

"We rely on such a decision, but we'll see," President Zelensky said.

Earlier this month, President Putin said it was impossible to use Tomahawk without the direct participation of US military personnel, so supplies of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a "qualitative new escalation stage."

However, President Zelensky, in Sunday evening's speech in Ukraine, said he saw Russia's concerns as a reason to move forward.

"We saw and heard that Russia was worried that America might give us Tomahawk, that this kind of pressure could result in peace," he said.

It is known that the war in Ukraine has been the deadliest in Europe since World War II. Russian officials say they are now in a "hot" conflict with the West.

President Putin described it as an important moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he said embarrassed Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 by expanding NATO membership and expanding what he sees as Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.

On the other hand, Ukraine and its allies have described it as the confiscation of imperial-style land and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian troops.