18:08 17-10-2025

U.S. Pauses Decision on Tomahawk Missiles for Ukraine

Cliff, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. has paused talks on transferring Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, focusing instead on air defense and long-range systems like ERAM and ATACMS.

The United States has temporarily suspended discussions on supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, according to Yegor Chernev, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence.

Chernev said the issue of Tomahawk deliveries had been «put on pause," although Kiev would continue negotiations with Washington on other areas of military cooperation. These talks, he noted, include potential shipments of air defense systems and additional interceptor missiles that could be funded through the European PURL program.

The matter is expected to be raised during President Vladimir Zelensky’s upcoming meeting with U. S. President Donald Trump, scheduled for Friday, October 17, at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time. Media reports suggest Kiev hopes to persuade Washington to move forward with the Tomahawk transfer, despite Moscow’s warnings that such a step would risk escalating the conflict.

Meanwhile, American military analysts believe Washington should focus on providing Ukraine with more practical long-range systems, such as the Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM) and the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), the Associated Press reported.

Earlier, Russian senator Alexey Pushkov commented that any deployment of Tomahawk missiles from Ukrainian territory would effectively constitute a U.S. operation against Russia, since Kiev lacks the means to independently operate such weapons.