President Trump on Wednesday appeared to rule out providing Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles, arguing that the weapons are too complex for Kyiv to deploy without substantial US training.
“The problem with the Tomahawk is – a lot of people don’t know – It’ll take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“The only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it,” the president added. “And we’re not going to do that.”
Trump said there is a “tremendous learning curve” when it comes to using the “highly complex” weapons, and he signaled that he wouldn’t want the US military to train other nations on how to effectively fire the long-range and “very accurate” missiles.
“It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it, and we’re not going to be teaching other people.”
