Meeting Zelenskyy, Trump Signals Reluctance on Sending Cruise Missiles to Ukraine

Latest Developments

Trump Cautious on Tomahawks: U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on October 17, where the leaders discussed the possibility of the United States supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine in its ongoing battle against the Russian invasion. “I would much rather have them not need Tomahawks,” Trump stated, adding that he “would much rather have the war be over.” Zelenskyy stressed the need to “pressure Putin. We want peace. Putin doesn’t want [it],” he asserted. Trump in recent days weighed the possibility of supplying Ukraine with the long-range cruise missiles, though his tone seemed to shift after a call with Putin on October 16, with the President stating, “We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can’t deplete [from] our country.”
Meeting Comes Day After Trump-Putin Phone Call: During Trump and Putin’s two-hour phone call a day earlier, the two leaders agreed to hold a second meeting to discuss ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, after Putin traveled to Alaska in August for a summit with Trump. Trump proposed that the next summit between the two nations be held in Budapest, Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban responded to the idea on X later in the day, saying, “We are ready!” Zelenskyy stated that “We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks.”
Russian Strikes Cause Blackouts in Ukraine: Hundreds ofRussian drones, along with dozens of missiles, slammed into Ukrainian energy facilities on October 16, causing blackouts in eight regions of the country, according to Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national energy operator. Zelenskyy accused Russia of using cluster munitions during the attack, which reportedly involved some 300 drones and 37 missiles, striking the same sites multiple times to target emergency response crews and engineers repairing the energy grid. In response, Ukraine said that it had targeted the Saratov oil refinery in Russia, 300 miles from Ukraine’s border.

FDD Expert Response

“I am concerned that we are seeing Donald Trump once again getting walked back from the right answer — increasing support to Ukraine — by flattery and false promises from President Putin.” — RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Senior Fellow and Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation

“Putin may be struggling to achieve substantial gains on the ground in Ukraine but he has been extraordinarily effective in persuading President Trump to not impose consequences for the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion. That decreases the chances for a ceasefire and for an outcome that is just and serves American interests.” — Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD’s Center of Military and Political Power

“President Trump has tried talking with Putin. That hasn’t worked. Now isn’t the time to get back on the diplomatic merry-go-round. It’s time to bring pressure to bear by imposing tougher sanctions on Russian oil revenue and maximizing military support for Ukraine, including its long-range strike capabilities.” — John Hardie, Russia Program Deputy Director