Ukraine war briefing: Moscow voices ‘extreme concern’ at Trump threat to send Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv | Ukraine

Donald Trump has threatened to send longe-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin does not end his invasion. “I might talk to him [Putin]. I might say, ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East. The US president said Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawks in a call on Saturday when they were discussing a fresh supply of weapons for Kyiv. “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” added Trump. “Do they [Russian forces] want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies ever since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal. Putin has previously warned against supplying Kyiv with Tomahawks, saying it would be a major escalation and affect relations between Washington and Moscow. Trump said last week that he has “sort of made a decision” on whether to send Tomahawks to Ukraine, without elaborating.

Zelenskyy said “we will see” when asked on Fox News whether Trump had approved the supply of Tomahawks. After his call with the US president, Zelenskyy told the Sunday Briefing: “We work on it … And I’m waiting for president to yes. Of course we count on such decisions, but we will see. We will see.” He said Friday that he was in talks with US officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision-strike weapons, including Tomahawks and more ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles. A senior Ukrainian delegation is set to visit the US this week.

Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the US potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published on Sunday that “the topic of Tomahawks is of extreme concern”. “Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides,” he told Russian state media. Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, also said in comments released on Sunday that he doubted the US would provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles. “I think we need to calm down in this regard. Our friend Donald … sometimes he takes a more forceful approach, and then, his tactic is to let go a little and step back. Therefore, we shouldn’t take this literally, as if it’s going to fly tomorrow,” Lukashenko told Russian state media.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid, part of a campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. Kyiv regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation. Ukraine’s energy ministry said that infrastructure was also targeted in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa and Chernihiv.
“Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, saying that Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” over the past week. Ukraine’s energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its fullscale invasion more than three years ago.

Zelenskyy called for tighter secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. “Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil – those who finance this war – must all remain on the table,” he wrote, adding he had a “very productive” phone call with Trump, in which they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s “air defence, resilience, and long-range capabilities,” along with “details related to the energy sector”. Their discussion followed an earlier conversation on Saturday, Zelenskyy said, during which the leaders agreed on Sunday’s topics.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive had made gains in southern Zaporizhzhia region as well as in Donetsk region, Zelenskyy said. Donetsk is the focal point of the conflict and where Kyiv has been reporting successes.