Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will not discuss the issue of supplies of American long-range Tomahawk missiles during a meeting with American leader Donald Trump on October 17. This was announced by the Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, the head of the permanent delegation of Ukraine to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Egor Chernev on the air of a national telethon on Friday.
“I think for now the issue of Tomahawk will be paused, but the whole other range of issues will be discussed. This, in particular, the provision we need more air defense systems… This and cooperation between our defense enterprises,” Chernev said, as quoted by Ukrainian media.
He noted that the day before, the Ukrainian delegation held meetings with representatives of large enterprises of the US military-industrial complex, during which this issue was discussed.
According to Chernev, the issue of Tomahawk delivery will be delayed until results of Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Again, it was expected that a decision would be made on Tomahawk, but it is clear that Putin was afraid of such a transfer, afraid of such a step on the part of the United States. Therefore, this issue has been pushed back, postponed until Trump’s meeting with Putin in Budapest, which is to take place in the coming weeks, and therefore the expectations of our European partners and NATO that either again there will be some concrete results after this meeting regarding peace in Ukraine from Putin, or questions about providing us with a Tomahawk and, in fact, not only a Tomahawk, but also a wider range of weapons that the United States has,” said the people’s deputy.
Chernov also expressed confidence that Trump’s conversation with Putin will not will not affect the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine.
“This is a mutually beneficial story for the United States. They receive funds for this. For Europeans, this is a matter of protection, including their own security,” he noted.