The Pentagon gave the “green light” to the White House for the supply of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraineafter assessing that their shipment will not negatively affect American stocks, according to the American network CNN citing American and European officials.

The final political decision now rests with US President Donald Trump, who said earlier this month, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that he would prefer not to give Tomahawks to Kiev, as “we don’t want to give away things that we need to protect our country.”

The Joint Chiefs of Staff had briefed the White House on its assessment shortly before the Trump-Zelensky meeting, which has long pushed for the missiles, which are designed to be able to strike Russian energy and oil facilities up to 1,000 miles deep inside Russia.

The Pentagon’s assessment has boosted the morale of European allies, who believe the US no longer has an excuse not to provide the missiles, two European officials said.

A few days before the meeting with Zelensky, Trump had said the US has “many Tomahawks” that could potentially be given to Ukraine.

It is noted that Donald Trump had once again surprised European and American officials when he completely reversed his position within a few days, declaring, during the meeting at the White House with the Ukrainian president, that the United States “needs” the Tomahawk missiles. Afterwards, in a private conversation, he reportedly told Zelensky that Washington would not concede to them, at least for now.

Trump’s decision came a day after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, according to CNN, warned him that the Tomahawks, capable of hitting major Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, would not change the course of the war but would seriously damage US-Russia relations.

Sources said, however, that Trump has not definitively ruled out sending the missiles, while his administration already has an immediate activation plan in case he gives the order.

Meanwhile, Trump is reportedly furious with Putin’s reluctance to seriously discuss a peaceful solution to Ukraine, which is why he approved new US sanctions against Russian oil companies and postponed – for now – a meeting with Putin in Budapest

While the Pentagon has not raised concerns about the US stockpile, US officials acknowledge there are significant operational issues with how Ukraine will train and use Tomahawk missiles.

A key question remains how the Tomahawks would be launched if the US decided to grant them. The missiles are usually launched from ships or submarines, however the Ukrainian Navy has been decimated, meaning land-based launchers would be needed. The Marine Corps and the US Army have already developed versions of such launchers that could be given to Kiev.

Even if the US did not move forward with the concession of launchers, European officials believe that Ukraine could find a technical solutionas it did with Britain’s Storm Shadow missiles, originally intended for modern NATO aircraft and incorporated into Soviet-era Ukrainian fighters.

In a post on X (Twitter) this week, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine hopes to strengthen its offensive capabilities on distant targets by the end of the year so that the war ends “on fair terms for the country.”

“Global sanctions and our targeted precision are now moving in perfect sync to end this war fairly for Ukraine. All targets must be met by the end of the year,” he wrote.