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The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, requested his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles during a private meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, the Ukrainian leader stated that having this high-tech weapon could compel Vladimir Putin to sit down for peace negotiations after more than three and a half years of war.
Zelenski stated after the meeting that Trump was receptive to the request and willing to "work on it", which opens the door to a decision that could represent a significant shift in Washington's military policy towards Kiev.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of up to 1,500 miles and a warhead weighing 450 kilograms, making them a far superior asset compared to any long-range system provided thus far by Western allies.
According to diplomatic sources cited by The Telegraph, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed his European counterparts that Trump's shift regarding Ukraine should be interpreted "in the most positive way possible."
Rubio would have also conveyed that the American president is “really angry” with Putin for ignoring his attempts to end the conflict.
The former president Joe Biden had already rejected a similar request during his term, considering that delivering Tomahawk missiles would be “too risky” because they could reach Moscow and evade advanced Russian air defense systems, posing a risk of escalating the conflict.
Currently, several European governments have begun to soften their stance on the supply of long-range weapons to Kiev; Germany has even announced the joint production of systems on Ukrainian territory.
Zelenski, for his part, emphasized that he has the tacit support of Trump to respond with long-range strikes if Moscow intensifies its offensives against Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
"If they attack our energy, President Trump supports our ability to respond against theirs," Zelensky said to U.S. media.
Ukrainian military experts, such as Serhii Kuzan, president of the Ukraine Security and Cooperation Center and former advisor to the Ministry of Defense, deemed the request a logical step following the arrival of systems like the British Storm Shadow.
"If Russia has long-range missiles, Ukraine must have similar capabilities to strike at the same depth," he noted.
Although the delivery of Tomahawks was considered too risky at the time because it could target objectives in Moscow and be able to evade Russia's most advanced air defense systems, the rapprochement between Trump and Zelenski suggests a shift that could alter the balance of the war in Eastern Europe.
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