Bloomberg: Trump Signals Hesitation to Provide Ukraine with Tomahawk Missiles

American President Donald Trump has signaled a shift in his stance regarding Tomahawk missiles following a telephone conversation on October 16 with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to reports from Bloomberg, citing sources close to the matter.

"Recent developments suggest that Trump is willing to give diplomacy another chance," the article notes.

Interestingly, this conversation took place a day before Donald Trump's scheduled meeting at the White House with Ukrainian President Zelensky, who has been urging the U.S. president to sell long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

Recently, Trump had hinted at the possibility of granting Ukraine access to Tomahawks, Bloomberg reports. However, after his phone call with Putin, Trump's tone on Thursday was different. He made it clear that he is reluctant to share these missiles. "We have plenty of them, but we need them. We cannot exhaust our stock," Trump stated.

The U.S. president also announced plans to meet with Vladimir Putin "in approximately two weeks," with the aim of ending the conflict in Ukraine. The leaders agreed that the meeting would take place in Budapest.

Later, Trump expressed optimism that the Budapest summit could lead to a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations. "I believe the Alaska meeting (the August encounter between Trump and Putin — Ed.) truly laid the groundwork. I think we will succeed," he said.

Encouraged by recent successes in the Middle East, Trump expressed confidence that similar progress could be achieved in Ukraine. Bloomberg reports that the leaders also discussed potential avenues for trade between the United States and Russia after the conflict in Ukraine concludes.

Russian Foreign Policy Assistant Yuri Ushakov confirmed that Putin and Trump discussed the possibility of holding a summit in Budapest. He told journalists that the conversation was substantive and candid.

"We are ready!" — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on his social media page, commenting on the results of the phone call between Putin and Trump.

Next week, the United States and Russia will hold high-level negotiations ahead of the leaders’ summit. The U.S. delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.