Trump Says He Has Pretty Much Made a Decision on Tomahawk Supply to Ukraine

President Donald Trump said Oct. 6 that he has “pretty much” made a decision on whether to supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles and made clear he does not want the Russia–Ukraine war to escalate.

Tomahawk missiles have a range of about 1,000 miles, according to Raytheon, which would allow Ukraine to strike targets as far away as Moscow if equipped with the U.S.-made weapons.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that he has “sort of made a decision” on the sale of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine but that he still needs Ukraine to answer some questions before finalizing it.

“I sort of made a decision, pretty much. I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them. Where are they sending them? I guess I have to ask that question,” the president said. “I’m not looking to see escalation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Oct. 2 that supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would lead to “a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation” in the conflict.

Putin said that Ukraine would need direct participation from U.S. military personnel to use Tomahawk missiles and that the supply of the weapons to Kyiv would hurt Moscow’s relations with Washington.

“As for Tomahawks, they’re a powerful weapon. Granted, they’re not exactly modern anymore, but they’re powerful and pose a threat. And, of course, this won’t change the balance of power on the battlefield at all,” he said.

“Can Tomahawks harm us? They can, we’ll be shooting them down and improving our air defense systems. Will this damage our relations [with the United States], which are now seeing some light at the end of the tunnel? Of course it will, but how could it be otherwise?”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in September that the United States was considering Ukraine’s request to obtain long-range Tomahawks, with Trump expected to make the final decision.

European nations would cover the cost if the sale of the weapons is approved, Vance told Fox News in an interview aired on Sept. 28.

“What the president is going to do is [based on] what’s in the best interest of the United States of America,” he said. “That’s the driving light between his foreign policy decisions, between his defense policy decisions, and that will be the same heuristic that we apply to how we answer this question about Tomahawks.”

Trump has sought to mediate a peace deal aimed at ending the Russia–Ukraine war, which has been ongoing since February 2022. While he had suggested that such a deal could involve territorial swaps, the president said on Sept. 23 that he now believes Ukraine, with backing from Europe and NATO, is in a position to fight Russia and retake its lost territories.

The change in Trump’s stance followed a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 23.

Zelenskyy said he discussed with Trump steps to “truly push Russia to change its position and stop the war.”

Reuters contributed to this report.