During a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Volodymyr Zelensky requested "Tomahawk" cruise missiles, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported, citing its own sources.
The "Tomahawk" missiles have a range of 1,500 to 2,500 kilometers, depending on the modification, which would give Ukraine the ability to hit key Russian military and infrastructure targets. They were described as key to Ukraine's victory plan.
During the administration of former President Joe Biden, such a supply was considered too risky. Diplomatic analysts say Trump's decision represents a sharp shift in Washington's policy on military support for Kiev. Diplomatic sources said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told his European counterparts that Trump's position on Ukraine has changed and his new approach should be viewed "as positively as possible." In an interview with Axios the day after his meeting with Trump, Zelensky said he had asked the US president for one thing that Kiev needed. "What exactly, what one specific thing, not a TruthSocial post that Trump could provide, do you need to win on the battlefield?" asked journalist Barak Ravid Zelensky. "I think President Trump knows. "Yesterday I told him what one thing we need," Zelensky replied.
"I won't say what it is, but I will say that he said, 'We will work on it,'" the Ukrainian president noted. The journalist asked him if he meant a weapons system.
"Yes. By the way, we need it, but that doesn't mean we will use it if we have it," Zelensky explained. He added that the presence of this unnamed system would help Putin sit at the negotiating table.
In mid-July, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote that Trump was considering delivering Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine as a way to put pressure on Russia.