Media, Zelenskyy beg Trump to give Ukraine Tomahawks — NATO chief says president was 'completely right' to decline



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House on Friday, hoping that he would talk President Donald Trump into giving Kiev some long-range Tomahawk missiles.

The meeting, while allegedly "cordial," did not go as Zelenskyy had hoped.

Trump, who figures both that America should retain the weapon systems for its own defense and that the provision to Ukraine would not only amount to an intolerable escalation but prove useless in the short term, declined to supply Kiev with Tomahawks.

'It will be too far out into the future.'

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, among the European officials apparently prickled by the decision, implored Trump to hand over the missiles, stating, "Putin believes only in power."

Elements of the liberal media similarly called on Trump to oblige Zelenskyy.

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, for instance, characterized the cruise missiles as a "force for peace," suggested that "hoarding cruise missiles for another war that may or may not come invites more conflict," and downplayed the use of the missiles against a nuclear power as escalatory.

The Telegraph suggested that Trump should abandon his role as the "mediator president" and gift Russian President Vladimir Putin "a Christmas punctuated by Tomahawk, Storm Shadow, and Atacms strikes."

Amid such blather, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte emphasized on Wednesday that the American president was "completely right."

Following his meeting on Wednesday with Trump, Rutte told CNN, "Let's never think that one specific weapon system will change the whole war. If it was that easy, then we would have ended it when the Germans sent Leopards II, when the Dutch and the Danes sent the F-16s."

"These systems are important," continued Rutte. "They will absolutely help to bring this war to an end, but in itself, one weapon system will never end it."

RELATED: Melania Trump partners with Putin to lead humanitarian effort in war-torn region

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Zelenskyy, whose term ended in May 2024, seeks to use such missiles — which cost over $2 million a piece and can be fired from a ground-based Typhon launcher that costs around $6.2 million — in concert with long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia, including military bases, factories, oil infrastructure, and command centers. Whereas the British-made Storm Shadow missiles in Ukraine's arsenal have a range of 150 miles, Tomahawk missiles have a range of over 1,000 miles.

Rutte referenced the explanation Trump gave during their meeting and said, "He was completely right here: It takes months for anyone other than American soldiers to be trained on [Tomahawk weapon systems]. So it is not that if you decide today that Ukrainians can use them tomorrow."

Trump noted earlier that "there is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk."

"It's a very powerful weapon, very accurate weapon, and maybe that's what makes it so complex," continued the president. "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."

Trump, keen on brokering an end to war well in advance of that time Tomahawk missiles might have capable pilots on the ground, has instead turned to a more immediate method of applying pressure on Russia to end the war, namely sanctions on Russia, its enablers, and — as of Wednesday — two of Russia's largest state-owned oil companies.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump gives Zelenskyy reality check in alleged 'shouting match' before sending him on his way



President Donald Trump has worked ardently to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine — a war that has resulted in millions of casualties and transformed much of Eastern Ukraine into drone-netted wasteland.

Fresh off brokering a tenuous ceasefire in Gaza and speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.

'They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!'

While Trump suggested on social media that the meeting was "cordial," there are reports indicating that it descended at times into a "shouting match" reminiscent of Zelenskyy's disastrous visit to the White House in February.

Zelenskyy evidently saw his trip to the White House as an opportunity to ask Trump for long-range Tomahawk missiles. The Ukrainian president seeks to use such missiles in concert with long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia, including military bases, factories, oil infrastructure, and command centers — as well as Moscow — in hopes of turning the tide in the war and improving Kiev's position in future negotiations.

In exchange for the Tomahawk cruise missiles, Zelenskyy — who spoke earlier in the day with representatives of Raytheon, the manufacturer of Tomahawk missiles — indicated that Kiev could provide the U.S. with some advanced drones.

Trump, who allegedly cursed repeatedly during the meeting, poured cold water on the idea. Rather than hand over weapons that he believes America should retain for its own defense and, in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, would amount to an escalation, Trump once again impressed on Zelenskyy the need to negotiate an immediate end to the war.

RELATED: Thermal shielding: The latest tactic to survive today's drone-swarmed battlefields

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump echoed this suggestion Friday evening on Truth Social, writing, "I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL! Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts."

"They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide!" continued Trump. "No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent."

The Financial Times, citing a European official briefed on the meeting, reported that Trump told Zelenskyy that it was imperative that he make a deal to end the war, allegedly noting that "if [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you."

There are, however, conflicting reports about the contentiousness of Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy.

One EU diplomat told Politico, for instance, that the meeting was "not as bleak as reported."

A pair of Republican foreign policy experts with direct knowledge of the meeting suggested Trump had not engaged in any cursing.

One GOP foreign policy expert characterized the meeting as "a dud for the Ukrainians rather than a disaster." The other suggested that "it wasn’t a bad meeting, just a victim of poor timing and inflated expectations."

Blaze News has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

The European official further told the Times that at one point during the meeting, Trump brushed aside one of Ukraine's maps of the battlefield, saying the sight of it made him "sick."

"This red line, I don't even know where this is," Trump allegedly said.

Russia presently occupies around 20% of the entire country and most of the Donbas — including all of the Luhansk region, most of the largely Russian-speaking Donetsk region, much of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

While Moscow has made gradual territorial gains over the past year, recent analysis by the Institute for the Study of War suggests that Russian forces are several years away from capturing the remainder of the Donetsk region, which "contains territory that is strategically vital for Ukraine’s defense and defense industrial base."

Two senior officials familiar with Trump's conversation last week with Putin told the Washington Post that the Russian president has conditioned ending the war on Ukraine's surrender of Donetsk — a proposal Zelenskyy apparently remains unwilling to accept.

Zelenskyy — whose term officially ended in May 2024 — told reporters after his meeting with the American president that Putin had asked Trump to "withdraw from the Donbas — not the entire east, but specifically the Donbas, that is, completely from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions."

The Ukrainian president suggested further that he "made it clear" to Trump "that Ukraine's stance in this context remains unchanged."

"Trump wants a quick victory — an end to the war — and that would be a victory for all reasonable people," Zelenskyy later told reporters. "Putin, however, wants the total occupation of Ukraine."

Zelenskyy said in an address on Saturday, "We will give nothing to the aggressor."

'Zelenskyy was very negative.'

President Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that aired on Sunday, "[Putin is] going to take something. I mean, they fought, and he has a lot of property. I mean, you know, he's won certain property."

Trump told reporters on Sunday, "We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines."

As for the Donbas region, Trump said, "I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia. You leave it the way it is right now."

Although Zelenskyy suggested the needle had been moved where ending the war was concerned, another European official briefed on the Friday meeting told the Financial Times that "Zelenskyy was very negative" after the American president sent him on his way.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump Wants His ‘Ukraine Impeachment’ Investigated

'The Ukraine Impeachment (of me!) Scam was a far bigger Illegal Hoax than Watergate'

Melania Trump partners with Putin to lead humanitarian effort in war-torn region



First lady Melania Trump has joined forces with an unexpected foreign leader to lead a crucial humanitarian effort in a war-torn region.

During a press conference Friday, Mrs. Trump announced her partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reunite Ukrainian children with their families. So far, eight children who were displaced by the war were reunited with their families in just the last day or so, she indicated. The first lady also confirmed that she remains in communication with Putin to continue the effort.

'I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children.'

"A child's soul knows no borders, no flags," Trump said.

"We must foster a future for our children which is rich with potential, security, and complete with free will," she added. "A world where dreams will be realized rather than faded by war."

RELATED: Trump teases shutdown consequences for Democrats: 'A little taste of their own medicine'

Photo by Contributor/Getty Images

During her address, the first lady recounted the initial letter she wrote to Putin in August 2024, raising concerns about the children who were separated from their families due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

"Since then, President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of these children," Trump said.

Over the last three months, both Ukraine and Russia have participated in several "back-channel meetings" that Trump says have all been "in good faith."

"Each child has lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine," she said, speaking about the eight children who were reunited this week. "Three were separated from their parents and displaced to the Russian Federation because of frontline fighting. The other five were separated from family members across borders because of the conflict."

RELATED: Drones shut down airports in NATO countries as suspicion falls on Russia

Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mrs. Trump also said that Russia has agreed to work alongside officials to return children who have turned 18 since their displacement.

"Again, this remains an ongoing effort," Trump said. "Plans are already under way to reunify more children in the immediate future. I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Report: Biden Suppressed Ukrainian Concerns About His Family’s Corrupt Business Dealings

Then-Vice President Joe Biden suppressed concerns from Ukrainian officials about his family’s corrupt business dealings in the country, newly declassified records show. Released Tuesday by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the heavily redacted documents indicate U.S. intelligence officials squashed an intel report that revealed Ukrainian officials worried about Biden’s visit to the country in December 2015. […]

Phones and drones expose the cracks in America’s defenses



In June, Israel embarrassed Iran’s ruling class, killing generals, politicians, and nuclear scientists with precision strikes. Tehran’s top brass thought they were safe. They weren’t.

Why? Their bodyguards and drivers carried cell phones that gave them away. That’s all it took for Israel to trace them and unleash devastation. The supreme leader only survived because President Donald Trump ordered Israel not to pull the trigger on him.

Phones in pockets and drones in the sky may not look like weapons, but they’re deadly if left unchecked.

The Israelis achieved this feat by identifying the weak link and exploiting it.

“We know senior officials and commanders did not carry phones, but their interlocutors, security guards, and drivers had phones; they did not take precautions seriously, and this is how most of them were traced,” an Iranian analyst told theNew York Times.

Iran’s failure should be America’s wake-up call — because we share the same blind spots.

The weakest link in US security

The U.S. government spends billions on cybersecurity. All that it takes is one careless employee with a smartphone in his pocket to blow it all up.

Even when not in use, phones emit wireless signals that can be detected, tracked, or exploited, potentially allowing adversaries to locate classified sites or intercept top-secret communications.

Most sensitive government facilities ban phones, but bans mean nothing without enforcement. Few have the tools to actually detect compromising phone use.

The solution already exists: wireless intrusion detection systems. Think of them as radar for the invisible spectrum. They pick up unauthorized devices, expose the threat, and let security teams act before adversaries do.

Washington wastes trillions on bureaucratic nonsense, but it can’t make sure the guy walking into a sensitive compartmented information facility isn’t carrying a digital beacon for the Chinese Communist Party? That’s how empires fall.

The new terrorist weapon

Drone technology is also changing the game.

In 2020, Azerbaijan crushed Armenia with cheap drones. Ukraine used $1,000 drones to destroy billions of dollars’ worth of Russian aircraft during Operation Spider’s Web. A hundred hobby drones, a few bombs, and some know-how — that’s all it took to humiliate the Kremlin.

RELATED: Does anyone think we’re up to the task of controlling AI?

Photo by Surasak Suwanmake via Getty Images

Now imagine what Iran, China, or even a terrorist cell on U.S. soil could do using the same playbook. Hackers can override “no-fly” geofencing software in minutes. That means no city, power plant, or military base is truly safe.

Stopping this requires ripping China out of our drone supply chains and arming American law enforcement with real anti-drone defenses. Anything less is a gamble with American lives.

Adapt or die

War evolves, technology evolves, and America must evolve with them. Phones in pockets and drones in the sky may not look like weapons, but they’re deadly if left unchecked.

America doesn’t need more bloated Pentagon reports or blue-ribbon commissions. We need decisive action — mandating wireless intrusion detection systems in every secure facility, hardening our skies against drones, and cutting China out of the equation entirely.

The Israelis exploited Iran’s weakness. Tomorrow, someone will exploit ours — unless we fix our weaknesses now.

Adapt or lose. That’s the choice.

More Than Words: Trump's Pivot on Ukraine Requires Action from Europe

The United Nations' annual September meeting is usually among the most prominent nonevents of the year, but Donald Trump made this latest gabfest notable. Some parts of his speech drew gasps, such as his asking, "what is the purpose of the United Nations?" and telling proponents of open borders that "your countries are going to hell." But his work on the sidelines made the most news.

The post More Than Words: Trump's Pivot on Ukraine Requires Action from Europe appeared first on .

Trump Is Right: The United Nations Doesn’t Help Countries, It Destroys Them

'I saved millions of lives and realized the United Nations wasn't there for us....what is the purpose of the United Nations?' - Donald Trump

Trump to UN: Stop Propping up Iran and Hamas, Stop Your Members From Buying Russian Oil, and Fix Your Damn Escalators

President Donald Trump pointedly criticized the United Nations and its members during a fiery speech on Tuesday, urging them to stop propping up the Iranian terror regime and its proxy Hamas, end their purchases of Russian oil, secure their porous borders—and fix Turtle Bay’s malfunctioning escalators.

The post Trump to UN: Stop Propping up Iran and Hamas, Stop Your Members From Buying Russian Oil, and Fix Your Damn Escalators appeared first on .