NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday said President Donald Trump made the right call in not supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
In a video posted to YouTube, Rutte said that “one specific weapons system” is not likely to change the war.
“And I think what the president explained today is that for the Tomahawk system, and he was completely right here, it takes months for anyone other than American soldiers to be trained on them,” Rutte said.
“So it is not that if you decide today, Ukrainians can use them tomorrow,” he added.
Rutte summed up his White House meeting with Trump by saying, “It was a very good meeting with the president.”
Trump said the training curve is too steep to make the weapon available.
“It will take a minimum of six months to learn how to use it,” Trump said in a video posted to X.
“So the only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it, and we’re not going to do that,” Trump said.
Should Trump send Tomahawks to Ukraine?
Trump on Tomahawks:
It takes a minimum of 6 months to learn how to use Tomahawks.
The only way is if we shoot it, we are not going to do that. pic.twitter.com/oROwVHhqhk
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 22, 2025
“There is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk,” Trump continued. “It’s a very powerful weapon, a very accurate weapon, and maybe that’s what makes it so complex. But it will take a year. 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. It will be too far out into the future.”
Instead of a weapons system, the Trump administration announced it will ramp up the economic pressure on Russia by imposing sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, according to The New York Times.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate cease-fire,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, calling the companies critical parts of “the Kremlin’s war machine.”
On Wednesday, Trump vented his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” he said. “They just don’t go anywhere.”
He said a proposed summit with Putin “didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it.”
Amid the focus on sanctions, the Trump administration has stepped back from its role in determining the use of long-range missiles that can attack targets in Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On Tuesday, Ukraine used its newfound freedom to send a British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missile to attack a Russian facility that produced rocket fuel and explosives.
The missiles, which use U.S. data to hit targets, have a range of about 180 miles and are launched from the air.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
