Washington’s deliberations over whether to supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles have taken a new turn amid US President Donald Trump’s renewed diplomatic overtures to Russia.
The American president, who is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, appeared to backtrack on earlier signals that Washington might approve the sale of the missiles, capable of striking targets 1,600 km away, following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too,” Trump said, hinting at reluctance to deplete US stocks. “We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean we can’t deplete our country.”
The two-hour call between Trump and Putin, called by both sides “productive,” focused on ending the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Trump announced afterwards that he would soon meet Putin in Budapest, Hungary, within the next two weeks, to further discuss peace efforts. The Kremlin later confirmed the potential summit, saying much remained to be finalised before an exact date could be set.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US state secretary Marco Rubio would coordinate details through upcoming talks.
“Putin set out Russia’s stance on the possible delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine very clearly,” Peskov added.
Putin, according to his foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, warned Trump that arming Kyiv with Tomahawks “won’t change the situation on the battlefield, but would cause substantial damage to the relationship between our countries.”
Zelenskyy, who has pressed Washington for months to provide long-range precision strike capabilities, believes the Tomahawks could help Ukraine hit deep Russian targets including military bases, airfields, energy hubs and command centres, forcing Moscow to take negotiations more seriously.
Trump, who has made resolving the Ukraine conflict a foreign policy priority after brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, has oscillated between strong rhetoric against Russia and conciliatory diplomacy.
His remarks after Thursday’s call signalled a softer approach, suggesting that peace talks between Putin and Zelenskyy might need to be conducted “separately, but equal.”
The Kremlin move for another summit has sparked speculation that Moscow is seeking to stall Washington’s decision on weapons.
“Putin’s outreach is perhaps designed to thwart the potential transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine,” said Max Bergmann, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It strikes me as a stalling tactic.”
The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, made by RTX’s Raytheon unit, is a precision-guided, long-range cruise missile used for deep-strike missions. Each missile costs around $1.3 million and can be launched from land or sea platforms.
The US plans to procure 57 more in 2026 and is currently upgrading their guidance systems.
The missiles have seen extensive use in conflicts across the Middle East, including US and U.K. naval strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
For Ukraine, such a system would mark a leap from its current arsenal of Western-supplied and domestic missiles like the ATACMS, Storm Shadow, Neptune, and Flamingo.
Analysts say the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s final decision reflects Washington’s broader struggle to balance pressure on Moscow with diplomatic engagement.
“The chances of moving toward a ceasefire by pushing Russia to get serious seem to have diminished,” said Dan Fried, a former US state department official.
Putin, meanwhile, has touted fresh territorial gains in Ukraine, claiming his forces captured nearly 5,000 square kilometres this year, as both sides escalate attacks on each other’s energy systems.
