After Gaza ceasefire, Trump shifts focus to ending Russia-Ukraine war, weighs selling Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv
Following the Gaza ceasefire, President Donald Trump said his focus has turned to ending Russia’s war on Ukraine. He plans to host Zelenskyy and is weighing Tomahawk missile sales to Kyiv as leverage to push Moscow toward peace talks.
Washington: With a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal holding, President Donald Trump says he’s now turning his attention to bringing Russia’s war on Ukraine to an end and is weighing providing Kyiv long-range weaponry as he looks to prod Moscow to the negotiating table.
Ending the wars in Ukraine and Gaza was central to Trump’s 2024 reelection pitch, in which he persistently pilloried President Joe Biden for his handling of the conflicts.
Yet, like his predecessor, Trump also has been stymied by President Vladimir Putin as he’s unsuccessfully pressed the Russian leader to hold direct talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the war that is nearing its fourth year.
But fresh off the Gaza ceasefire, Trump is showing new confidence that he can finally make headway on ending the Russian invasion. He’s also signalling that he’s ready to step up pressure on Putin if he doesn’t come to the table soon.
“Interestingly we made progress today, because of what’s happened in the Middle East,” Trump said of the Russia-Ukraine war on Wednesday evening as he welcomed supporters of his White House ballroom project to a glitzy dinner.
Earlier this week in Jerusalem, in a speech to the Knesset, Trump predicted the truce in Gaza would lay the groundwork for the US to help Israel and many of its Middle East neighbours normalise relations. But Trump also made clear his top foreign policy priority now is ending the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.
“First we have to get Russia done,” Trump said, turning to his special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has also served as his administration’s chief interlocutor with Putin. “We gotta get that one done. If you don’t mind, Steve, let’s focus on Russia first. All right?”
Trump weighs Tomahawks for Ukraine
Trump is set to host Zelenskyy for talks Friday, their fourth face-to-face meeting this year.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump has said he’s weighing selling Kyiv long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, which would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory — if Putin doesn’t settle the war soon. Zelenskyy, who has long sought the weapons system, said it would help Ukraine put the sort of pressure on Russia needed to get Putin to engage in peace talks.
Putin has made clear that providing Ukraine with Tomahawks would cross a red line and further damage relations between Moscow and Washington. But Trump has been undeterred.
“He’d like to have Tomahawks,” Trump said of Zelenskyy on Tuesday. “We have a lot of Tomahawks.” Agreeing to sell Ukraine Tomahawks would be a splashy move, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. But it could take years to supply and train Kyiv on the Tomahawk system.
Montgomery said Ukraine could be better served in the near term with a surge of Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) missiles and Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS. The US already approved the sale of up to 3,350 ERAMs to Kyiv earlier this year.
The Tomahawk, with a range of about 1,600 km, would allow Ukraine to strike far deeper in Russian territory than either the ERAM (460 km) or ATACMS (or 300 km).
“To provide Tomahawks is as much a political decision as it is a military decision,” Montgomery said. “The ERAM is shorter range, but this can help them put pressure on Russia operationally, on their logistics, the command and control, and its force disbursement within several hundred kilometers of the front line. It can be very effective.”
