US President Donald Trump, after a conversation with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, said that the Russian leader did not like the idea of Tomahawk missiles being supplied to Ukraine.
Trump said that he asked Putin during the conversation whether he “would mind” the US providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles. “He did not like the idea,” Trump said. The US president stressed that these cruise missiles are “brutal weapons.”
“I asked, would you mind if I gave a few thousand Tomahawks to your opponents? I told him that. He didn’t like the idea. Sometimes you have to be a little reckless, but no, he doesn’t want that,” Trump said.
The American president stressed that these cruise missiles are “brutal weapons.” At the same time, he added that the United States also needs Tomahawks.
“You know, we need Tomahawks for the United States of America. We have a lot of them, but we need them. So I don’t know what we can do about it,” Trump concluded.
Many observers believe that it is high time for the US and Europe to do what Putin does not like and to finally end Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine. While Trump has been promising to end the war, Russian troops have fired hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones into Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. So will Trump take concrete actions that the Russian regime does not like, or is the matter all just a political game? We will find out in the coming weeks.
On the eve of the vote, the Republican majority leader in the US Senate, John Thune, announced his readiness to put to a vote the long-stalled bill on sanctions against Russia.
Thune said that senators are “discussing the time and date” of adopting the bill, which would provide for the introduction of tariffs for countries importing Russian energy resources and secondary sanctions against foreign companies that support Russian energy production.
Trump said Thune didn’t know about the call to Putin and that he would tell the Senate’s Republican majority leader and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“It could be such a productive call that we will ultimately succeed… I’m not against anything; I’m just saying that it may not be the ideal time. It could happen in a week or two. But that’s at my discretion, as you know,” the American president added.
There is strong support among senators for Moscow to face greater consequences for its war in Ukraine. In September, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a new bill that would designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism for its abduction of Ukrainian children during the war.
US President Donald Trump plans to hold a phone conversation with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin on Thursday 16 October.
As reported by Axios, the call between Trump and Putin is scheduled a day before the US leader hosts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Neither Washington nor the Kremlin has officially confirmed the planned conversation.
The last time the US president spoke with the Kremlin ruler was nearly two months ago, on 18 August, when several European leaders visited the White House following the Alaska summit.
Since then, Trump has become increasingly critical of Putin, particularly of his unwillingness to end Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy earlier said he is “preparing in detail” for his meeting with Trump on 17 October and is discussing the agenda with relevant government bodies.
Media reports indicate that the possible provision of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine will be one of the key issues at the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting.
