Trump warns US may send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine unless Russia ends war

Donald Trump has warned the US may send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Russia doesn't end the war soon.

The president was speaking aboard Air Force One, where he is flying to the Middle East to mark a peace plan in Gaza. Vladimir Putin has previously suggested this would seriously damage relations between Moscow and Washington.

Mr Trump told reporters: "I might say 'Look: if this war is not going to get settled, I'm going to send them Tomahawks'. "The Tomahawk is an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon.

And honestly, Russia does not need that." He went on to reveal that the prospect of Ukraine receiving these missiles has already been raised in conversations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president told Fox News that Tomahawks would only be used to pursue military goals - and not to attack civilians.

These missiles have a range of 1,550 miles (2,500km) - long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow. "Do they want to have Tomahawks going in that direction? I don't think so," Mr Trump said of Russia.

"I think I might speak to Russia about that. Tomahawks are a new step of aggression." It comes after Mr Zelenskyy claimed a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made gains along the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Kyiv has said its forces have been advancing around the town of Dobropillia, near a key logistical target for Russian troops in the Donetsk region, for several weeks. In his nightly address yesterday, the Ukrainian president said his forces had also made gains of more than 3km (1.8 miles) further south in Zaporizhzhia.

A Russian defence ministry report made no reference to Ukrainian advances, but said Moscow's troops had hit Ukrainian troops and equipment in Zaporizhzhia. The countries have been giving conflicting accounts of the situation along the frontline - which is estimated to stretch 775 miles (1,250km) - in the war that has raged for more than three-and-a-half years.

Mr Putin told senior officers last week that Moscow's forces had captured 1,930 square miles of territory this year and have held the strategic advantage through all sectors of the frontline. The next day, Mr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were inflicting heavy losses on Russian troops near Dobropillia and were "defending ourselves along all other directions".

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine's power grid over the weekend as part of an ongoing campaign to cripple the country's energy infrastructure before winter. "Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure," Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X yesterday.

Read more from Sky News:Palestinian girl, 12, 'dies' after suffering malnutrition for monthsNiece of Kenyan woman 'murdered by British soldier' comes to UK to seek justice The Ukrainian president said Russia had launched "more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs" over the past week. He also called for tighter sanctions on buyers of Russian oil and said he had a "very productive" phone call with Donald Trump in which they discussed "air defence, resilience, and long-range capabilities.