US President Donald Trump has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the US will not provide Kyiv with Tomahawk cruise missiles, at least for the time being, Axios reported on Friday.
Sources described the White House meeting between the two presidents as “not easy”, adding that while nobody had raised their voice, Trump was “tough” and the conversation was “a bit emotional” at times.
In the course of their approximately two-and-a-half hour meeting, Trump briefed Zelensky on the long phone call that he had with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, reiterating US support for freezing the frontline in its current form, Axios said. Trump announced on Thursday that he would meet with Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks following a “very productive” call with the Russian leader.
Writing on Truth Social after the meeting, Trump urged both countries to “stop where they are”. Zelensky, meanwhile, confirmed that the subject of Tomahawks was raised, but said neither side wanted to discuss it publicly in order to avoid escalation. Sources told Axios that while Zelensky persistently asked for missiles, Trump was inflexible and gave no guarantees.
Zelensky spoke to European leaders almost immediately after the meeting, with one source telling Axios that many were surprised by Trump’s “change of heart”. Many European leaders issued coordinated statements in support of Ukraine, which Axios called a “clear indication” that the meeting was “not a success”.
In late September, Zelensky told Axios that, during a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, he had asked the US president for “one thing” — thought to mean Tomahawks — that would put “additional pressure on Putin to sit and speak”.
Immediately after that meeting, Trump appeared to modify his stance on Ukraine’s chances of winning the war, writing on his Truth Social platform that Washington would “continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them — including transferring them to Ukraine”.