CNN: Pentagon approves Tomahawk transfer to Ukraine, leaves final decision to Trump

The Pentagon has given the White House the green light to supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, leaving the final political decision in the hands of US President Donald Trump. This was reported by the TV channel CNN with reference to three American and European officials familiar with the matter.

The US Department of Defense has concluded that this will not have a negative impact on US stockpiles.

The media outlet recalled that earlier this month, during a working lunch with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Trump said that he would prefer not to provide missiles to Ukraine because "we don't want to give away things we need to defend our country".

The Joint Staff notified the White House of its assessment earlier this month, shortly before Trump met with Zelenskiy, who pushed for missiles to be more effective at hitting oil and energy targets deep in Russia.

This assessment has encouraged US European allies, who believe that the US now has fewer excuses not to deliver the missiles, two European officials said. Trump also said just days before his meeting with Zelenskiy that the US has "a lot of Tomahawks" that it could potentially give to Ukraine.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.

Unnamed interlocutors previously told CNN that Trump has not taken the missiles off the table, and the administration has developed plans to deliver them to Ukraine quickly if the US president gives the order.

In addition, in recent weeks, Trump has been so frustrated by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's unwillingness to seriously consider peace talks that last week he approved new US sanctions on Russian oil companies and canceled the Budapest summit.

• On October 17, Zelenskiy after meeting with Trump said that no one has canceled the Tomahawk delivery.
• Axios wrote that Trump told Zelenskiy that he had no intention of providing Kyiv with Tomahawks, at least for the time being.