Trump stressed that Ukraine “would like to have Tomahawks,” but he would discuss that with Putin.

“I might say, look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them tomahawks,” he said.

Putin has repeatedly emphasized that Moscow was ready to end the conflict, but the “root causes” of it need to be addressed first, including the rights of the Russian population living in Ukraine, neo-Nazi divisions, NATO expansion.

Moscow has repeatedly accused the authorities in Kiev of being unwilling to end hostilities.

Trump has recently claimed he actually made the decision on whether Ukraine will get long-range Tomahawk missiles, but will have to “ask the question where are they sending them.”

Tomahawks cost an estimated $1.3 million each and have a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles), meaning that they could potentially reach Moscow and far beyond.

Commenting on the prospects of the missiles being supplied to Ukraine, Putin stressed that “our response would be the strengthening of the Russian Federation’s air defenses.” He also argued that Ukrainian forces would be unable to operate such a sophisticated system without the “direct participation of American military personnel.”

Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported that the US was unlikely to supply Tomahawks to Ukraine, as the current inventories were committed to the US Navy and other uses.

The Financial Times also reported that some people inside Trump’s inner circle were skeptical as to the Tomahawks’ ability to change battlefield dynamics.

The poll, which survey 2,413 U.S. registered voters and was conducted between Oct. 1-2, showed overwhelming bipartisan support for additional sanctions on Moscow.

More Republican voters than Democrats supported the additional sanctions with 86% of Republican in favor of the new measures, while 71% of Democratic voters agreeing that the U.S. should impose the measures. Only 23% of respondents were opposed to new sanctions entirely.

The results illustrate the contrast between the prevailing views of the American public and the policies of the Trump administration.

Although Trump has at times threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia, he has seldom followed through on those threats and has consistently shot down domestic and international appeals to get tough on Moscow.

While Trump has reportedly called upon G7 partners to impose their own tariffs on China and India over their purchases of Russian oil, he has been reluctant to impose his own measures, having set shifting deadlines on their implementation.

In August, Trump made progress on implementing additional economic pressures, signing an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on imports from India in response to New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.

Later in September, Trump again shifted the deadline for new Russian sanctions stating that he would impose tougher sanctions on Moscow once European allies fully cease purchasing Russian oil.

When asked if the U.S. should impose tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, a majority, some 57%, of respondent believed that countries should be punished for the imports.

Two-thirds of voters from Trump’s Republican Party supported the tariffs, while 55% of Democrats thought countries should be punished. Only 32% of respondents disagreed “for fear of antagonizing Russia.”

Despite a lack of economic pressure, last month, the Trump administration approved its first military support package for Ukraine under the NATO-funded Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).

Respondents to the poll also overwhelmingly believed that the Trump administration should continue to provide weapons in addition to imposing further economic sanctions with 68% of respondent in agreeance.

The online poll is considered accurate +/- 1.99 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Trump and Zelensky discussed Ukraine’s request for the US to allow the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to bolster Kyiv’s ability to conduct long-range strikes inside Russia, among other issues, according to Axios.

This follows Trump’s suggestion that he had “sort of made a decision” about selling Tomahawks to NATO countries in order for them to be supplied to Ukraine.

“If a war can be stopped in one region, then surely other wars can be stopped as well – including the Russian war,” Zelensky wrote on Facebook, a day after Moscow launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that triggered widespread blackouts in Kyiv and elsewhere.

“I informed President Trump about Russia’s attacks on our energy system – and I appreciate his willingness to support us,” Zelensky stated, adding that they had a “very positive and productive” discussion on “concrete agreements” for strengthening Ukraine’s air defences.

The phone call took place amid mounting concern in Kyiv over both the increasing scale of Russian air attacks and Ukraine’s ability to counter ever more sophisticated aerial assaults involving hundreds of drones at a time, and more effective Russian countermeasures against Kyiv’s air defences.

The commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, warned that Russia was stepping up its air raids.

“New challenges await us ahead. Over the past month, the enemy has increased the number of air attack weapons and although our air defence is about 74% effective, we need to make additional efforts to cover the rear energy sector, critical infrastructure and logistics,” said Syrskyi.

Earlier this week, Russia launched 465 attack drones and decoy drones, as well as 32 cruise and ballistic missiles, against Ukraine.

The latest talks between Trump and Zelensky come amid ongoing discussions in Washington over whether to provide Ukraine with the Tomahawk cruise missiles Kyiv has long been seeking, a move Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has warned would be a “completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation”.

The phone call between the two leaders comes amid a warming of relations between the US president and Zelensky.

The Ukrainian president stated in his nightly address on Friday that Russia was taking advantage of the world being “almost entirely focused on the prospect of establishing peace in the Middle East”, and called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defence systems and tighter sanctions on Russia.

“Russian assets must be fully used to strengthen our defence and ensure recovery,” he said in the video, posted to X.

Meanwhile, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, announced in a joint statement on Friday they were ready to coordinate and move toward using “the value of the immobilised Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces and thus bring Russia to the negotiation table”.

They aimed to do this “in close cooperation with the United States,” the statement added.