US President Donald Trump has expressed ambivalence regarding the potential delivery of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, suggesting the conflict between Russia and Ukraine should be allowed to continue. Trump stated that while the delivery ‘could’ happen, it is not at ‘this moment,’ emphasizing his reluctance to provide Kiev with such weapons. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned against the move, stating it could derail US-Russia relations and contradict US administration promises.
The US president also suggested the Ukraine conflict should simply be allowed to go on until the warring parties show a readiness to settle it. Asked whether there was any ‘final straw’ for him to prove that Russia was not willing to end the hostilities, Trump said it was not the case. Trump has long promised to mediate an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and revived direct negotiations with Moscow early this year. The Russia-US contacts and the resumed direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, however, yielded no breakthroughs. The US president has repeatedly expressed frustration with the lack of progress.