Trump mulls sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine

President Donald Trump on Sunday floated the idea of sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. If the war wasn’t settled soon, he might warn Russia of that possibility, he said. Trump made the comments to reporters aboard Air Force One. He recently mentioned the idea to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a phone call, he said. Trump characterized the Tomahawks as an offensive weapon and the potential move as a new step of aggression.

Trump’s warnings came after several days of intensified Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. More than 3,100 drones and around 1,360 glide bombs hit Ukraine over the past week, Zelenskyy said on Sunday. Recent escalation of attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant left it running on generator power alone to avoid meltdown for the longest stretch yet—about three weeks, he said.

How did Russia’s government respond to the threat of Tomahawk missiles? American military personnel would be involved in Tomahawk launches and delivery, which could spur serious consequences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state-run news service TASS.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report on the return of several Ukrainian children to their home country from Russia.