Pentagon gives green light to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine

CNN reports that the Pentagon has given the "green light" to supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, but the final decision will be made by Donald Trump.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff informed the White House of their assessment in early October, just before Donald Trump met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, who insisted on providing the missiles.

Instead, Trump stated during a meeting with Zelensky that he would not want to provide missiles to Ukraine because "we don't want to give away what we need to defend our country."

The Pentagon's assessment has encouraged the United States' European allies, who believe the United States now has fewer reasons not to provide the missiles, two European officials said.

Trump also stated a few days before the meeting with Zelensky that the US has "a lot of Tomahawks" that it could potentially provide to Ukraine.

So American and European officials were surprised when, a few days later, Trump abruptly reversed course, saying during his opening remarks at a working lunch with Zelensky that the United States needed the Tomahawks. He then told Zelensky behind closed doors that the United States would not provide the missiles, at least not yet.

Trump's decision came the day after his phone call with illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin, who told the US president that the Tomahawks could hit major Russian cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, and that this would not have a significant impact on the course of hostilities, but would damage US-Russian relations.

However, CNN sources previously reported that Trump has not abandoned the idea of supplying missiles, and the administration has prepared plans to quickly supply them to Ukraine if Trump gives the appropriate order.

Sources added that several operational issues still need to be resolved for Ukraine to effectively use the missiles.

One unresolved question is how Ukraine would launch the missiles if the United States provided them. Tomahawk missiles are typically launched from ships or submarines, but Ukraine's navy is severely depleted, so the missiles will likely have to be launched from land. The U.S. Marine Corps and Army have developed land-based launchers that could be provided to Ukraine.

But even if the US does not want to provide the launchers, European officials believe that Ukraine will be able to find a way.