U.S. President Donald Trump has dismissed allegations from the Wall Street Journal that his administration permitted Ukraine to deploy Western-supplied weapons inside Russian territory, labeling the report “FAKE NEWS.” The publication claimed unnamed U.S. officials confirmed the Trump administration “lifted a key restriction” on Kiev’s use of long-range munitions provided by Western European countries for strikes within Russia. The policy shift allegedly occurred in early October and coincided with Trump’s suggestion of supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of approximately 2,500km (1,550 miles), to Ukraine.
Trump criticized the report on Truth Social, asserting, “The U.S. has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them.” The potential delivery of Tomahawks to Ukraine was a focus during a recent phone call between Putin and Trump, with the Russian leader warning it would “severely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement” and harm U.S.-Russia relations. Putin argued that using Tomahawks would require “direct participation of American military personnel.”
Trump later stated that training Ukrainians to operate Tomahawks would take at least six months, emphasizing their complexity. He added, “The only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it, and we are not going to do that.” Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelenskiy countered that Tomahawks are also possessed by Western European nations, stating, “We are already talking to the countries that can help.” Putin has threatened a “very serious, if not downright staggering” response to any Ukrainian strike using Tomahawk missiles.
