Kiev\u2019s forces would not be able to operate long-range missiles without Washington\u2019s direct involvement, the president has said<\/p>\n
The US will not help Ukraine fire long-range Tomahawk missiles at Russian forces, President Donald Trump has said, adding that training Kiev\u2019s troops to operate the weapon would take many months.
\nSpeaking during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday, Trump did not say whether the US might eventually provide Kiev with the missiles \u2013 which have a maximum range of around 2,500km (1,550 miles) \u2013 but stressed that the weapon required long and intensive training.
\n\u201cThe problem with the Tomahawk [is] that\u2026 it\u2019ll take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use them. They\u2019re highly complex,\u201d Trump said. \u201cSo the only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it, and we\u2019re not going to do that.\u201d
\n\u201cWe know how to use it, and we\u2019re not going to be teaching other people,\u201d the US president added. Trump earlier cautioned that allowing Ukraine to conduct strikes deep into Russia with long-range missiles could lead to \u201can escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
When Tomahawks become boomerangs<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against supplying the long-range weapon to Ukraine, saying that it would be \u201cimpossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of American military personnel.\u201d He also warned such deliveries would \u201cseverely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement\u201d and damage relations between Moscow and Washington.
\nOn Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed US officials as saying that the Trump administration had lifted restrictions on Ukraine\u2019s use of certain long-range missiles supplied by the West.
\nThe US leader, however, quickly dismissed the report as \u201cFAKE NEWS,\u201d adding that Washington \u201chas nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them!\u201d
\nUkraine has long requested Tomahawk missiles, with the topic discussed during a meeting between Trump and Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House last week. After the talks, the Ukrainian leader declined to comment on the issue, although an Axios report described the meeting as \u201cbad,\u201d saying Kiev had failed to secure Tomahawk deliveries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kiev\u2019s forces would not be able to operate long-range missiles without Washington\u2019s direct involvement, the president has said The US will not help Ukraine fire long-range Tomahawk missiles at Russian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t