ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine if its war with Russia is not settled.

Trump said Ukraine would “like to have Tomahawks” as he left for Israel and Egypt ahead of the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit on a Gaza ceasefire.

“We talked about that, and so we'll see,” he said, referencing his talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“I might have to speak to Russia, to be honest. Do they want to have Tomahawks going in that direction? I don’t think so. I think I might speak to Russia about that, in all fairness,” he said he told President Zelenskyy, calling Tomahawks “a new step of aggression.”

“Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I'm going to send them Tomahawks. I may say that the Tomahawk is a credible weapon, a very offensive weapon. And honestly, Russia does not need that…I might tell them that if the war is not settled, that we may very well. We may not, but we may do it.”

“I want to see the war settled,” he added.

His remarks came after Zelenskyy said Sunday that Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan provides "hope" that a similar approach could end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Zelenskyy also said the two countries are working on the US sending long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv

Last Monday, Trump said he was close to deciding whether to send Tomahawks to Kyiv, adding that he wants to “find out what they're doing with them, where they're sending them.”