The Pentagon granted the White House permission to transfer long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine after assessing that it would not negatively affect U.S. stockpiles. The final decision remains with Donald Trump.
CNN reported this, citing its own sources among American and European officials.
During a working lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Donald Trump said he would prefer not to provide the missiles to Ukraine, stating, “We don’t want to give away what we need to defend our country.”
It is known that the Joint Chiefs of Staff informed the White House of their assessment earlier this month, directly before Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy.
According to two European officials, this assessment encouraged European allies who believe Washington now has fewer reasons not to provide the missiles. Trump also said a few days before meeting with Zelenskyy that the U.S. has “a lot of Tomahawks” that could potentially be given to Ukraine.
American and European officials were surprised when Trump sharply changed his position a few days later, saying during his opening remarks at a White House working lunch with Zelenskyy that the U.S. “needs” those missiles. He then told Zelenskyy behind closed doors that the U.S. would not provide them — at least not yet.
Trump’s decision came the day after a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told Trump that Tomahawk missiles could strike major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg — that they would not have a significant impact on the battlefield but would damage U.S.–Russia relations.
As previously reported by CNN sources, Trump has not completely taken the issue of the missiles off the table, and the administration has prepared plans for a rapid transfer of the missiles to Ukraine if he gives the order. In recent weeks, Trump has also become increasingly frustrated with Putin’s unwillingness to seriously consider peace talks, so last week he approved new U.S. sanctions against Russian oil companies and canceled a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Although the Pentagon has no concerns about stockpiles, U.S. defense officials are still trying to determine how Ukraine would train for and use the missiles. They said several operational issues remain to be resolved before Ukraine can effectively deploy them.
How Ukraine will use the Tomahawks
One of the complex questions is how Ukraine would launch the missiles if the U.S. provides them. Tomahawks are typically launched from surface ships or submarines, but Ukraine’s navy is severely weakened, so the missiles would likely have to be launched from land. The U.S. Marine Corps and Army have developed ground-based launchers that could be supplied to Ukraine.
But even if the U.S. does not want to provide the launchers, European officials believe Ukraine could find a workaround. One of them noted that Ukrainian engineers had already managed to adapt the U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, originally designed for modern NATO aircraft, to their aging Soviet-era fighter jets.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine hopes to expand its long-range capabilities by the end of this year to end the war “on fair terms” for the country.
“Global sanctions and our pinpoint precision are practically syncing up to end this war on terms fair for Ukraine,” he wrote. “All deep-strike goals must be fully defined by the end of the year, including the expansion of our long-range capabilities.”