Against the backdrop of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with American leader Donald Trump, Ukraine expects that the list of weapons Kyiv can purchase will be expanded, possibly including Tomahawk missiles. This was stated to a UNN journalist by MP Yehor Cherniev, Deputy Head of the parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, and Head of the permanent delegation of Ukraine to the NATO PA.
Details
Cherniev commented on the expectations regarding the provision of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine against the backdrop of Zelenskyy's and Trump's meeting today.
We are working with the Americans within the framework of the PURL program, under which European partners purchase what we need for us. Currently, there are no restrictions on the quantity of what we can buy from the USA; there are restrictions on how much they can produce and how much they have available. The Patriot system and missiles for it are also a priority for us. We expect that the list of weapons we can purchase will be expanded, including possibly Tomahawk, as a long-range weapon, but not the only one that could be provided to us by the Americans.
What is known about today's meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in the USA
On October 16, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump.
According to the preliminary agenda, at 1:00 PM (8:00 PM Kyiv time), the US President will welcome the President of Ukraine. And at 1:15 PM local time (8:15 PM Kyiv time), Trump is expected to participate in a bilateral lunch with the President of Ukraine. Politico wrote that against the backdrop of planned talks between Trump and Zelenskyy and after the American leader's statements about "the offensive" Ukraine is considering a meeting on Friday to secure necessary modern weapons.
Trump stated that Zelenskyy would ask America for Tomahawk missile supplies during the meeting in Washington. It should be noted that before this, on October 13, the US President stated that he would send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Russia continued the war.
Trump also emphasized that Russia does not want to end the war. In addition, a few days ago, Donald Trump called on Russian dictator Putin to stop the war in Ukraine.
However, yesterday, October 16, on the eve of the meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump had a long conversation with Putin. Trump stated that next week there would be a high-level meeting between the US and Russian teams. He also stated that he would meet with Putin in Hungary to discuss the possibility of ending this "inglorious" war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Trump said that the Tomahawk topic was raised during the conversation with Putin. The head of the White House noted that the US has a large number of these missiles, but they are needed by the country itself.
According to Russian leader's aide Yuriy Ushakov, the phone conversation between Putin and Trump was initiated by the Russian side. Putin informed Trump about the alleged strategic initiative of Russian troops along the entire front line and emphasized that the use of "Tomahawks" could spoil relations between America and Russia.
Axios reported that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian delegation were surprised by US President Donald Trump's conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin about a meeting in Hungary.