President Trump Says US Needs Tomahawk Missiles And Cannot Spend Its Supplies

JAKARTA - The United States was unable to consume supplies of its Tomahawk cruise missiles by supplying them to Ukraine, President Donald Trump said.

President Trump noted that the issue of the US Tomahawk missile supply to Ukraine had been discussed in a conversation with his Russian partner, Vladimir Putin.

"We also need Tomahawk for the US. We have a lot, but we need it," he said.

"I mean, we can't spend it on our country. So, you know, the missile is vital, very powerful, very accurate, very good, but we also need it, so I don't know what we can do about it," explained President Trump.

"What do you think he's going to say? Please sell Tomahawk," President Trump told reporters.

"I actually said, 'Do you mind if I give your opponent a few thousand tomahawks?' I did say that. I just said that," he explained.

He described this cruise missile as "a violent, offensive, and very destructive weapon." "No one wants the Tomahawk to be fired at him," added President Trump.

In the phone call President Putin told President Trump supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine would jeopardize the peace process and undermine US-Russian relations, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters.

"Vladimir Putin reiterated his thesis that the Tomahawk missile will not change the situation on the battlefield, but will cause significant damage to relations between our two countries, not to mention the prospect of a peaceful resolution," he explained.

On Friday, President Trump plans to accept President Ukrain Volodymr Zelensky at the White House. President Zelensky has repeatedly asked the US to increase the supply of missiles for the Patriot system and transfer Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

The US President has stated that before making a final decision on the Tomahawk missile, he most likely had to discuss it with the Russian President. On October 6, President Trump announced he had actually made a decision about the possibility of transferring this missile to Ukraine, but did not explain what was covered in it.

President Putin himself has said the Tomahawk missile "cannot be used" without the direct involvement of US military personnel, warning it will mark "a new, qualitative escalation phase, including in relations between Russia and the United States."