Trump rules out Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine, for now: Let them fight it out

US President Donald Trump has, for now, ruled out supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles for use against Russia in the ongoing war. While leaving the door open to reconsider in the future, Trump said he does not want to escalate the war, noting that the more-than-three-year-long conflict has been “tough” for both nations.

The President made the remarks on Sunday while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked whether he was considering a deal to sell the missiles requested by his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"No, not really," Trump told reporters and added that he could, however, change his mind.

When the reporters asked him about what would constitute a "final straw" to end the war, Trump replied, "There’s no final straw. Sometimes you have to let them fight it out. It’s been a tough war for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, and it’s been a tough war for Ukraine," reports The Kyiv Post.

He also said that it was about time for both Russia and Ukraine to resolve the conflict themselves and added, “Sometimes you have to let it just get fought out.”

In the recent past as well, Trump has expressed reluctance to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, citing the risk of escalating the conflict, despite the Pentagon giving the green light to provide Kyiv with Tomahawks after determining it would not adversely affect US stockpiles.

The President, however, had to take a final call about whether to go ahead with the sale or not.

Just last week, a planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest was put on hold after the US leader suggested that he did not want to waste time as it would not yield any result on ending the war.

President Zelenskyy met Trump at the White House on October 17 after the latter had signaled that Washington could provide Ukraine with the long-range missiles Kyiv believes will help bring Putin to the negotiating table.

The Ukrainian President, however, left empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Russia has warned against the provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine, saying that would lead to the destruction of Moscow's relationship with Washington.

Before the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, Putin told Russian media that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of US military personnel and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a "qualitatively new stage of escalation."

He added that Tomahawks could harm Russia, but that it would simply shoot them down and improve its own air defence.

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km, long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.

A part of the US military’s inventory since the 1980s, the cruise missile flies around 100 feet off the ground, making it harder to detect by defence systems.

The missile also boasts an impressive range of around 1,000 miles and precision guidance systems that make it the go-to weapon for striking targets that are deep inland or in hostile territory.

While the US forces launch Tomahawk missiles almost exclusively from ships or submarines, Ukraine doesn’t possess a Navy with ships capable of carrying the 20-foot-long missile.

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(With Reuters and APinputs)