Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky was in Washington, D.C., on Friday, but came away empty-handed, as President Donald Trump declined to promise that the U.S. would supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles. And let’s be clear: Trump was absolutely right to do so. While Russian President Vladimir Putin is exhibiting concerning signs that he will not agree to peace with Ukraine at all, and wants to conquer the entire country, we simply cannot take the most extreme option until we are absolutely certain that peace is not on the table.
Let me say that once again: Trump is right about this. And Trump is proving that he is the peace president — he’s proving that with the Middle East, and he’s trying to prove it with Russia-Ukraine as well. His instincts to wage peace rather than war are morally correct and politically popular, and represent a refreshing break from the bipartisan foreign policy consensus. If someone with Trump’s instincts had been leading the U.S. in the ’90s, ’00s and 2010s, as America accrued foreign policy blunder after foreign policy blunder and actually created the conditions for Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.
But we are in this mess, and the question is, what should we do about it.
Trump has engaged in herculean negotiating efforts to bring Zelensky and Putin to the table. His efforts have worked on Zelensky, who now has a far more realistic outlook about the likely end of the war. The Biden administration, unfortunately, had convinced the Ukrainian government that U.S. support would be unlimited, and we would defend every inch of Ukrainian territory from Russian invasion.
This was, of course, completely absurd — it was always the case that Ukrainian did not a plan to eject Russia from their land entirely. Neither Zelensky’s military advisers nor U.S. military advisers thought this outcome likely. All along, the plan should have been to defend Ukraine, yes, but get a peace deal on the table — one that probably wasn’t going to be ideal for Ukraine, the weaker party, but would leave the rest of the country intact.
Trump has gotten Zelensky there, which is good. But Putin has proven to be extremely stubborn, and despite appearing to favor negotiations and peace talks, he keeps delaying the actual end of the war — which does raise the unfortunate possibility that he’s really not interested in peace. He wants to take all of Ukraine.
And if that’s how it’s going to be, then that’s how it’s going to be, and there’s no reason not to sell Ukraine weapons and the means to defend themselves. Russia wants a war, they’ll get a war. But I for one still think we should make one last effort to avoid that outcome.
Tomahawk missiles, which would theoretically allow Ukraine to hit targets within Russia, run the risk of drawing the U.S. more directly into this conflict. What if Russia perceives a Ukrainian attack on the homeland — an attack managed with U.S. weapons — as an act of war on the part of the U.S.? Do we really want to be at war with Russia, over the fate of a nation we have no special obligation to defend? Of course not.
That’s why Trump was right to ultimately call off plans to provide the Tomahawk missiles to Zelensky. In a long, and apparently tough meeting, on Friday, Trump informed Zelensky he wasn’t ready to provide the weapons just yet, and wants to wait to meet with Putin in the next two weeks, likely in Budapest, Hungary. That stance is tough but smart.
Here was Trump addressing the matter in an interview with Fox News over the weekend.
You are correct, Mr. President. If we are going to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, we have to be absolutely certain that peace is not something Russia is interested in.
President Putin, the ball is now in your court. You should accept the peace deal that ends this war, and commit to engaging in no further aggression against Ukrainian territory that remains in Ukrainian hands. And if you are unwilling to do that, then you will see a different of the U.S. and of Trump: We want peace, but if we can’t have peace because of your obstinacy, then you’re going to get escalation, and war. Before it comes to that, take the deal!
Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.
