A phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday has cast fresh uncertainty over whether Washington will proceed with plans to deliver Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the call, Trump appeared to temper expectations, saying, “We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too. We have a lot of them... but we need them. We can’t deplete ours for our country… but we need them too.” The remarks came just hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington, D.C., for meetings with Trump, congressional leaders, and representatives from the U.S. defense industry. Zelensky is expected to make a direct appeal for advanced long-range weapons, including Tomahawk missiles, to bolster Ukraine’s defenses as winter approaches.
According to the Kremlin’s readout, Putin warned Trump that supplying Tomahawks would have “no meaningful impact” on the battlefield but would cause “irreparable harm” to U.S.-Russia relations. The Russian president reportedly cautioned that Moscow would view such a transfer as a direct provocation, signaling that Russia was prepared to suspend all remaining diplomatic dialogue if the weapons were delivered.
Following the exchange, Trump confirmed plans to meet Putin in Budapest in the coming weeks—a move that surprised many in Washington and Europe. The meeting was reportedly arranged during the call and will mark their second face-to-face encounter since Trump’s return to office.
The development follows a familiar pattern in Trump’s approach to the war: issuing threats toward Moscow before arranging high-profile meetings that temporarily pause escalation. In August, Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, helped broker a summit in Anchorage, Alaska, after Trump threatened tariffs against Russia’s trading partners unless Moscow agreed to a ceasefire. That meeting reset peace talks for several weeks until Trump reversed course last month, labeling Russia a “paper tiger” and expressing renewed confidence in a Ukrainian victory.
Thursday’s call suggests another cycle of brinkmanship, with Trump once again signaling a willingness to negotiate directly with Putin rather than deepen U.S. military involvement in the conflict.