Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to obtain Tomahawk missiles for strikes on Russia from a meeting with Donald Trump on Friday, with the US president later calling for both sides to cease fighting and accept current battle lines.
Zelensky had traveled to Washington hoping to receive the long-range cruise missiles, which he believes could deliver a decisive blow to the Kremlin’s war economy by enabling targeted strikes on oil and energy facilities deep inside Russia.
However, during opening remarks at a White House working lunch, Trump expressed hopes to resolve the war “without thinking about Tomahawks,” adding that the weapon is one America “needs.”
And Zelensky appeared to come away empty-handed, describing the meeting as “productive” but declining to comment further on Tomahawks because the US “doesn’t want escalation.”
Hours later, Trump made a public call for Kyiv and Moscow to “stop the war immediately.”
“You go by the battle line, wherever it is. Otherwise, it’s too complicated. You’ll never be able to figure it out. You stop at the battle line,” Trump told reporters upon landing in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“And both sides should go home, go to their families, stop the killing. And that should be it,” he added, saying that he’d communicated that sentiment to both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting came a day after Trump spoke on the phone with Putin and agreed to meet him soon in Hungary.
During that call, Putin is said to have stressed that Tomahawks – which have the range to target major Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg – would have no significant impact on the battlefield. But they would damage the US-Russian relationship, he argued.
Tomahawk missiles have a significantly longer range than any others in Ukraine’s current armory.
Although Trump has tempered discussions regarding their delivery, he has not definitely ruled it out.
Ahead of Friday’s White House meeting, Zelensky appeared to suggest a trade of Ukrainian drones for US Tomahawks.
“Ukraine has thousands of our production drones but we don’t have Tomahawks,” he said.
“They (US) can have our thousands of drones, that’s where we can work together.”
Zelensky briefed European leaders virtually following his meeting with Trump. The leaders reiterated their “unwavering commitment to Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression.”
Speaking to reporters, the Ukrainian leader reaffirmed his trust in Trump wanting to finish the war, adding “it was also difficult to manage the situation in the Middle East, and the president was successful in it.”
On Friday, Trump stopped short of offering a view on whether Ukraine would need to cede territory as part of a peace settlement with Russia.
Trump has taken divergent stances on the issue.
Ahead of his meeting with Putin in August, he said “land swaps” would be necessary for the war to end.
Later, he changed his mind, saying he believed Ukraine could win back all the territory now occupied by Russia.
In comments Friday, Trump did allow for the possibility that Putin may be stringing him along in a bid to gain time to complete his war aims in Ukraine, but concluded: “I think that he wants to make a deal.”
“You know, I’ve been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well,” he added.
