Zelenskyy insists ‘Putin is not winning,’ says Ukraine needs U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted that Russia “is not winning” the war between the two nations, and he insisted that U.S.-provided long-range strike capabilities — such as Tomahawk missiles — are crucial for Kyiv.

In an NBC’s “Meet the Press” interview that aired Sunday, Mr. Zelenskyy struck a tone similar to the one he expressed during last week’s White House meeting with President Trump. Ukraine, he said, needs Tomahawk missiles in order to hit targets deep inside Russia and to make the Russians “feel what we feel,” a reference to the continued Russian bombing of targets across Ukraine.

Mr. Zelenskyy cast the potential delivery of Tomahawks as a game-changer in a war that is by no means decided.

“We are not losing this war and Putin is not winning,” Mr. Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“And really, his army now [is] in a weak position,” he said. “From the beginning of this war, they could occupy 1% of our land, but they spent 1,300,000 people and I think this is [a] high price, yes, for such land.”

During the White House meeting last week, Mr. Zelenskyy made his case that Ukraine needs the Tomahawks and, in a possible trade deal with the U.S., would provide its own Ukrainian-made drones in return.

“Ukraine has … thousands of our production drones, but we don’t have Tomahawks. That’s why we need Tomahawks,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in the Cabinet room surrounded by officials from the U.S. and Ukraine. “But the United States … has Tomahawks and other missiles, but they can have our thousands of drones. That’s where we can work together.”

When asked if the U.S. would be open to such a trade, Mr. Trump said, “We are.”

But he added, “We want Tomahawks also. We don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country.”

With a range of well over 1,000 miles, Tomahawk missiles, manufactured by defense firm Raytheon, are a crucial piece of America’s military arsenal. U.S. forces used them last year in strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.

The delivery of Tomahawks to Ukraine would enable Mr. Zelenskyy’s forces to strike deep into Russia. So far, Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil have been carried out using small tactical attack drones. Such operations have been effective, but Tomahawk missiles could destroy Russian targets on a much larger scale — and Mr. Zelenskyy says the Kremlin is very well aware of that.

“I think that Putin [is] afraid that [the] United States will deliver us Tomahawks,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in his NBC interview.

Though so far he’s been unsuccessful, Mr. Trump is still pushing to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Mr. Trump had a lengthy phone call last Thursday with Mr. Putin. He said that he would soon be meeting with Mr. Putin in Hungary but didn’t give an exact date.

• Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.