Launch of a Tomahawk cruise missile by the Typhon ground-based system. Photo: US Army

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had “sort of made a decision” on whether to supply Ukraine with US-made long-range Tomahawk missiles, but wanted to know Kyiv’s plans for their use before giving his final approval.

“I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “You know, where are they sending them? I guess I’d have to ask that question.”

Trump added that he was not seeking “escalation” in the war by providing the missiles, which have a range of over 2,400 kilometres and would enable Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russian territory — putting almost 2,000 Russian military facilities within Kyiv’s reach, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

In late September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios that, during a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, he had asked the US president for “one thing” — thought to mean Tomahawks — that would put “additional pressure on Putin to sit and speak”.

Immediately after that meeting, Trump appeared to drastically modify his stance on Ukraine’s chances of winning the war, writing on his Truth Social platform that Washington would “continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them — including transferring them to Ukraine”.

US Vice President JD Vance later confirmed that Washington was considering Kyiv’s request for Tomahawks, but that the “final determination” on whether to supply them would be made by Trump.

Vladimir Putin, however, warned on Sunday that any decision by Washington to send Tomahawks to Ukraine would undermine the “emerging positive trends” in US-Russian relations.

That remark echoed comments the Russian leader made during a bullish speech in Sochi last week, in which he said that, as it would be “impossible” for Kyiv to use Tomahawks without the “direct involvement” of US military personnel, Washington supplying them to Ukraine would signify a “new stage of escalation” in both the war and in Russia-US ties.

According to Axios, Ukrainian officials have requested Tomahawks from the US on multiple occasions over the past year, but the missiles remain the only major weapon system that Trump has so far refused to sell to NATO allies for transfer to Ukraine.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had given US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon the green light to share intelligence with Ukraine that would allow Kyiv to launch missile strikes on energy infrastructure deep inside Russia.