Key Takeaways
- NATO Praises Trump’s Restraint: Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Trump was “completely right” to delay sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, citing the year-long training required to operate them effectively.
- Focus Shifts to Economic Pressure: Both leaders agreed that intensifying sanctions and economic pressure on Russia will do more to change Putin’s behavior than rushed weapons transfers.
- Sanctions Hit Russia’s Oil Giants: The Trump administration sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s largest oil firms, as part of a broader strategy to cut off funding for Moscow’s war machine.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is backing President Donald Trump’s decision to hold off on sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, calling the move both practical and strategically sound.
Speaking with CNN after his White House meeting with the president, Rutte said Trump was “completely right” to point out the logistical hurdles in deploying the U.S. Navy’s advanced cruise missiles to a foreign force mid-war. “It takes months for anyone other than American soldiers to be trained on them,” Rutte explained. “It is not that if you decide today, Ukrainians can use them tomorrow.”
Trump told reporters the Tomahawk’s complexity is precisely what makes it such a potent weapon — and a poor fit for Ukraine’s immediate needs. “It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “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.”
Instead, Trump and Rutte emphasized economic pressure as the most effective way to squeeze the Kremlin. “You see that when Putin feels under threat, he starts to react,” Rutte said, noting Russia’s struggling economy.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil — cutting off key revenue streams funding the war. Trump also canceled a planned meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest, saying, “It just didn’t feel right to me.”
With NATO’s backing, Trump’s strategy is clear: keep the pressure on Moscow without dragging America into another endless conflict.