At the weekend, after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said he could threaten Putin with supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev if Russia did not stop its attacks on Ukraine. Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of up to 2,500 kilometers and would enable Ukraine to attack deep into Russian territory. Zelensky is expected to meet with Trump at the White House on Friday.
Trump and Putin met in mid-August in the US state of Alaska. However, the meeting did not bring any progress towards a ceasefire in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been ongoing for more than three and a half years. Rather, Russia continued its attacks with undiminished severity.
Trump declared during his election campaign that he would end the war in Ukraine within “24 hours” after taking office in January. Most recently, he repeatedly expressed his disappointment and displeasure with the behavior of the Russian head of state. The relationship between Trump and Zelensky, however, had noticeably improved in recent months after a difficult start.
