President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears to have returned empty-handed from a White House meeting after US President Donald Trump suggested he was not prepared to supply Ukraine with the much-needed Tomahawk cruise missiles, the BBC reports.
President Zelenskiy said he discussed long-range missiles with President Trump after friendly bilateral talks, but decided not to speak on the issue “because the United States does not want escalation.”
After the meeting, President Trump called on Kiev and Moscow to “stop the status quo” and end the war on social media.
The Trump-Zelensky meeting took place a day after Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed to meet in Hungary soon.
Zelenskiy believes that using Tomahawks to attack Russian oil and energy facilities would significantly weaken Putin’s war economy.
President Trump did not rule out that possibility, but his tone at the White House on Friday was noncommittal.
“I hope they don’t need it. I hope we can end the war without thinking about the Tomahawk,” the president said, adding, “I think we’re pretty close to that.”
He called the weapons a “huge deal” and said the United States needs them for its own defense. He also said that talks on the supply of Tomahawks would continue, although supplying them to Ukraine could mean further escalation of the conflict.