kyiv’s forces would not be able to operate long-range missiles without direct participation from Washington, the president said.
The United States will not help Ukraine fire long-range Tomahawk missiles at Russian forces, President Donald Trump said, adding that training kyiv’s troops to operate the weapon would take many months.
During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday, Trump did not say whether the United States could eventually provide kyiv with the missiles – which have a maximum range of about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) – but stressed that the weapon requires long and intensive training.
“The problem with the tomahawk [is] that… it will take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use them. “They are very complex” Trump said. “So the only way we’re going to shoot a tomahawk is if we shoot it ourselves, and we’re not going to do that.”
“We know how to use it and we’re not going to teach other people.” added the American president. Trump previously warned that allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range missiles could lead to “an escalation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine, saying it would be “It is impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of American military personnel.” He also warned that such deliveries “severely undermines prospects for a peaceful solution” and damage relations between Moscow and Washington.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed U.S. officials as saying that the Trump administration had lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of certain long-range missiles supplied by the West.
The American leader, however, quickly dismissed the report, calling it “FAKE NEWS” adding that Washington “It has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they come from, or what Ukraine does with them!”
Ukraine has long requested Tomahawk missiles, and the issue was discussed during a meeting between Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House last week. After the talks, the Ukrainian leader declined to comment on the issue, although an Axios report described the meeting as “bad,” saying that kyiv had failed to secure Tomahawk deliveries.
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