The White House is weighing Ukraine’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles to defend the country against Russian forces, Vice President JD Vance said Sunday.
“We’re certainly looking at a number of requests from the Europeans. And one of the things, again, that I think has really worked about the president’s policy in Ukraine and Russia is that it’s forced the Europeans to step up in a big way. … It’s something the president’s going to make the final determination on,” Vance said on “Fox News Sunday.”
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Axios reported Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked President Trump for the long-range missiles at a meeting between the two at last week’s U.N. General Assembly. CBS News has reached out to Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskyy’s office, for comment on those talks.
The Trump administration has implemented a policy of selling weapons to Ukraine that would be paid for by European NATO countries in August, under terms of a deal struck between Mr. Trump and NATO leaders earlier in the summer.
On Sunday, Vance said the U.S. was considering the sale of Tomahawk missiles in line with that policy. “What we’re doing is asking the Europeans to buy that weaponry that shows some European skin in the game. I think that gets them really invested in both what’s happening in their own backyard, but also in the peace process that the president has been pushing for, for the last eight months,” Vance said.
The U.S.-made Tomahawk missile has a range of about 1,500 miles, which would place Moscow well within the range of Kyiv should the Ukrainian government obtain them.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov implied that the U.S. was directly interfering in the war between Russian and Ukraine. “Moscow has heard Washington’s statements about possible Tomahawk deliveries to Ukraine and is carefully analyzing them,” Peskov said at a news conference. “It is important to understand who will be directing and launching the Tomahawk missiles from Ukrainian territory – the Americans or the Ukrainians themselves.”
Speaking to Fox News later on Sunday, U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg said “there are no such things as sanctuaries” in war and that Ukraine should have the ability to conduct long-range strikes on Russia.
“I think reading what he (Mr. Trump) has said, and reading what Vice President Vance has said … the answer is yes. Use the ability to hit deep,” Kellogg said.
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Russia fired more than 600 drones and missiles at targets across Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement. The attacks killed four people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian officials said, and was one of the largest aerial barrages Ukraine has faced since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.
Mr. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russia’s failure to come to the table to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine, and he has offered Ukraine encouragement over the past week in its fight to repel Russian troops.
“Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger,'” Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday.
“I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” Mr. Trump said.
