Zelenskyy comments on Trump's decision not to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the issue of potential deliveries of Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine "very sensitive", but said that decisions on sanctions had once seemed impossible too.

Source: Zelenskyy at a briefing in Brussels on 23 October, cited by European Pravda

Details: Answering journalists' questions, Zelenskyy commented on his American counterpart's recent decision not to supply Tomahawks to Ukraine, calling it "a very delicate decision".

"I think that you heard it from President Trump. It's a very sensitive decision. But it's like with sanctions before," he said.

Zelenskyy stressed that a decision on sanctions "was unbelievable" once.

"Now we see the decisions on these energy sanctions, which are very important. And that's why I think that with the long range [missiles], we will have the same decision in some future; but it depends on the American side," the Ukrainian president emphasised.

Trump, speaking to journalists during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, said the United States had not agreed to provide Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine because it takes six months to a year to learn to use them.

"There is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk. It's a very powerful weapon, a very accurate weapon, and maybe that's what makes it so complex. But it will take, it takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it, and we're not going to be teaching other people," Trump said.

He added that the only way for Ukraine to fire Tomahawk missiles would be if the United States itself launched them, but Washington is "not going to do that".

Background:

• On 17 October, Zelenskyy travelled to the White House to meet with Trump. This took place after two consecutive phone calls between them, and the meeting was planned to discuss highly sensitive issues. One of the key topics was expected to be the possible provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
• On the eve of the meeting, Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin, after which he said that the Russian leader didn't like the idea of providing Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine and added that now was not the time for secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy resources.
• Later, media reported that in a private conversation with the Ukrainian president, Trump made it clear that he was not yet considering providing Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!