The sale of American Tomahawk guided missiles was one of the topics of Friday's meeting of the presidents of the United States and Ukraine, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, at the White House. Trump suggested during the meeting that he would not sell these missiles to Ukraine because the US needs them. After leaving the White House, Zelensky assured that the topic of missiles was topical.
— President Trump preferred to hold off for now and see if he can cooperate with Putin Volker said, assessing Trump's decision.
As he noted, Russia's demands regarding the war in Ukraine remain unchanged, which does not bode well for the potential meeting of the leaders to be productive. Therefore, according to him, the leaders' meeting will be postponed. Trump himself said on Tuesday that he had not made a decision on this matter yet and would inform about what happens next within two days.
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What conditions must Ukraine meet to receive Tomahawk missiles?
What does Kurt Volker think about Trump's decision regarding the Tomahawks?
Has Trump already made a decision on selling Tomahawks to Ukraine?
Why is Ukraine ready for a ceasefire?
Putin may be bluffing to convince Trump of his vision
Volker told CNN that Putin still believes he can conquer more Ukrainian territory and is not ready to stop the fighting. — He also wants to see if, using this bluffing negotiation tactic, he can convince Trump or someone else to put pressure on Ukraine.to give him more [terytorium] – he emphasized.
He pointed out that Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire on the current front line, which he said is a big concession.
Volker stressed that Trump has not yet introduced new sanctions on Russia because he is focused on reaching an agreement and is not “in confrontation mode.” — According to him, more pressure, including sanctions, Tomahawks, will make it more difficult to reach an agreement. He partly thinks so because Vladimir Putin tells him so — continued Washington's special envoy to Ukraine in 2017-2019.
— In fact, he should mobilize these measures. Implement secondary sanctions. Give Ukraine Tomahawks on the condition that it does not use them if the Russians agree to a ceasefire, to raise the stakes and for Putin to finally agree [na negocjacje]. But Trump thinks differently these days. And Putin takes advantage of the fact that Trump wants to reach an agreement and makes it happen [Trump] does not use stronger measures [wobec Rosji] – he added.
