Pentagon cleared giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles, leaving final decision to Trump

By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — The Pentagon has given the White House the green light to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles after assessing that it would not negatively impact US stockpiles, leaving the final political decision in President Donald Trump’s hands, according to three US and European officials familiar with the matter.

Trump said earlier this month during a working lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House that he would rather not provide the missiles to Ukraine because “we don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country.”

The Joint Staff informed the White House of its assessment earlier this month, just before Trump met with Zelensky who has been pushing for the missiles to more effectively target oil and energy facilities deep inside Russia. Tomahawks have a range of around 1,000 miles.

The assessment buoyed the US’ European allies, who believe that the US now has fewer excuses not to provide the missiles, two European officials said. Trump also said just days before meeting Zelensky that the US has “a lot of Tomahawks” that it could potentially give to Ukraine.

US and European officials were surprised, therefore, when Trump dramatically changed his tune days later, saying during opening remarks at a White House working lunch with Zelensky that the US “needs” the Tomahawks. He then told Zelensky behind closed doors that the US would not be providing them — at least not yet.

Trump’s decision came one day after he spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told Trump that Tomahawks could hit major Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg – would have no significant impact on the battlefield but would damage the US-Russia relationship, CNN has reported.

The White House and Pentagon did not return requests for comment.

Trump has not taken the missiles off the table altogether, sources previously told CNN, and the administration has drawn up plans to provide them to Ukraine quickly should Trump give the order. Trump has also grown so frustrated in recent weeks with Putin’s unwillingness to seriously consider peace talks that he approved new US sanctions on Russian oil firms last week and scrapped — for now — a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest to discuss Ukraine.

While the Pentagon doesn’t have concerns about stockpiles, US defense officials are still grappling with how Ukraine would train on and deploy the missiles, officials said. There are still several operational issues that would need to be resolved for Ukraine to be able to use the missiles effectively, the sources added.

One outstanding question is how Ukraine would fire the missiles if the US provided them. Tomahawks are most commonly launched from surface ships or submarines, but Ukraine’s Navy is severely depleted, so the missiles would likely need to be launched on land. The Marine Corps and Army have developed ground-based launchers that could be provided to Ukraine.

But even if the US did not want to provide the launchers, European officials believe Ukraine could figure out a workaround. One official pointed out that Ukrainian engineers were able to develop a workaround to use the UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles, which were originally designed to be used by modern NATO aircraft and had to be integrated into Ukraine’s aging, Soviet-era fighter jet fleet.

In a post on X earlier this week, Zelenksy said Ukraine hopes to expand its long-range capabilities by the end of this year so the war can end “on fair terms” for the country.

“Global sanctions and our pinpoint precision are practically syncing up to end this war on terms fair for Ukraine,” he wrote. “All deep-strike goals must be fully locked in by year’s end, including expansion of our long-range footprint.”

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