Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly requested Tomahawk missiles from US President Donald Trump this week to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into peace talks, Axios reported Friday.
The request took place during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, according to a Ukrainian official and another source familiar with the discussion. In a separate interview with Axios, taped on Wednesday, Zelenskyy confirmed he had sought long-range weaponry.
Zelenskyy told The Axios Show that he had asked Trump for a weapons system capable of compelling Putin to negotiate, potentially without Ukraine even needing to use it. “By the way, we need it, but it doesn't mean that we will use it. Because if we will have it, I think it's additional pressure on Putin to sit and speak,” he said.
A Ukrainian official and another source confirmed that the system Zelenskyy was referring to was the Tomahawk, a long-range, precision-guided missile. Ukraine has requested Tomahawks from the U.S. several times over the past year, including in a prior list of military hardware.
According to a source familiar with the process, the Tomahawk was the only system Trump had not approved for sale to NATO countries on Ukraine's behalf.
The Tomahawk, manufactured by RTX, can reach targets up to 1,000 miles away, far exceeding the range of U.S.-made ATACMS missiles currently supplied to Ukraine, which have a range of about 190 miles. Zelenskyy noted that while Ukraine can strike deep inside Russia with drones, many military targets are heavily defended and difficult to reach using those systems.
Zelenskyy also said Trump had told him Ukraine should respond tit-for-tat to attacks on its energy infrastructure, arms depots, and production sites. Zelenskyy indicated that conditions could be placed on the use of Tomahawks depending on Russia’s behavior.
The U.S. may be cautious about providing such long-range missiles due to the risk of escalating the conflict and the limited stockpiles of Tomahawks, which take months to replenish. Despite these concerns, Zelenskyy said Trump responded to his request, stating, “We will work on it.”
Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said after a meeting with Putin on Friday that the Russian leader would announce a “very good proposal” to end the war in Ukraine, which he claimed had broad U.S. backing. Lukashenko, who met Putin in Moscow for over five hours, did not reveal details of the proposal but noted it had been outlined to Trump during a summit in Alaska last month.
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