Zelensky will meet with Trump on Friday evening Polish time in Washington. Chernev, who is vice-chairman of the parliamentary committee on security, defense and intelligence, as well as head of Ukraine's permanent delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, believes that the topic of their talks will be other issues related to strengthening Ukrainian defense.
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“The topic of Tomahawks will be put on hold.”
— I think the topic of Tomahawks will be put on hold for now, but all other matters will be discussed [na spotkaniu Zełenskiego z Trumpem]. This includes: for providing us with more air defense systems and cooperation between our arms plants, said Cherniev, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
According to the politician, the issue of Tomahawk deliveries has been postponed until Trump meets Putin. He noted that Ukraine's European partners expect that after this meeting “either there will be any concrete results regarding peace in Ukraine on Putin's part, or the issue of transferring the Tomahawks to us will be unblocked.”
— It was expected that a decision on the Tomahawks would be made, but it is known that Putin was afraid of handing them over, fearing such a step from the United States. Therefore, this topic has been postponed until the meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, which is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks. And that is why the expectations of our European partners and NATO are such that either there will be some concrete results again after this meeting regarding peace in Ukraine on Putin's part, or matters regarding the transfer of Tomahawks to us and, in fact, not only them, but also a wider range of weapons at the United States' disposal, said the deputy.
“It's a win-win story.”
At the same time, Chernev expressed his belief that Trump's conversation with Putin will in no way affect the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine. “It's a win-win story for both sides – for the United States, which gets paid for it, and for Europeans, for whom it's also a matter of protecting their own security,” he added.
He also noted that if, after the meeting between Trump and Putin, the latter agrees to peace talks and shows “some progress”, then perhaps the US will change its position and may promise that it will no longer provide military aid to Ukraine, “but this will be part of the peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine,” wrote the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
— Tomahawks are still a unilateral decision of the United States – they can hand them over and will, so to speak, be held responsible for the use of such weapons, but by Ukraine, not by the United States – concluded the head of Ukraine's permanent delegation to the NATO PA.
