Zelensky says he believes Putin is ‘afraid that United States will deliver us Tomahawks’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview that aired Sunday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is “afraid that [the] United States will deliver us Tomahawks.”

“I knew about the Tomahawks, it’s very sensitive for Russians,” Zelensky told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “They’re afraid that [the] United States can deliver Ukraine — I think that Putin [is] afraid that [the] United States will deliver us Tomahawks.”

During a White House meeting with Zelensky on Friday, President Trump said it was not “easy” for the U.S. hand over long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

“It’s not easy for us to give … you’re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons,” the president said.

“So, that’s one of the things we’ll be talking about hopefully, they won’t need it, hopefully, we’ll be able to get the war over with, without thinking about Tomahawks,” he added.

The potential shipment of Tomahawk missiles has become a notable point of discussion recently following Trump floating the idea.

“Are you disappointed that President Trump’s answer wasn’t ‘yes’ on Tomahawks?” Welker asked Zelensky.

“Of course I want, and of course we want. And, of course, we understand how we can use it. And to my mind, it can pressure on Russia and push Putin to negotiations, from my side,” the Ukrainian president responded.

Zelensky on Friday noted that his military doesn’t use just Tomahawks and suggested that Ukraine could give “thousands” of its drones to the U.S. in return for the missiles.

“You don’t use just Tomahawks,” he said. “If you want to target a military goal, you need thousands of drones. It goes together with such missiles. Ukraine has such thousands of our production drones, but we don’t have Tomahawks. That’s why we need Tomahawks.”