(Washington, D.C.) – Informed U.S. and European officials revealed that the Pentagon has notified the White House of its agreement to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
CNN reported on Friday (October 31), citing three informed U.S. and European officials, that the U.S. Department of Defense assessment concluded that this would not negatively impact U.S. stockpiles, and the final political decision now rests with President Trump.
Last month, Trump told Ukrainian President Zelensky at a working lunch that he would rather not supply missiles to Ukraine, saying, "We don't want to hand over what we need to defend our country."
Two European officials said the latest assessment from the U.S. Department of Defense has encouraged America's European allies, who believe the U.S. now has few excuses to refuse to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
CNN previously reported that sources revealed Trump had not completely ruled out supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, and that the U.S. government had a plan to quickly supply these long-range missiles to Ukraine should Trump give the order. Furthermore, Trump has recently become so frustrated with Russian President Putin's unwillingness to seriously consider peace negotiations that he approved new sanctions against Rosneft last week and canceled a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest to discuss Ukraine.
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However, sources revealed that while the Pentagon is not worried about insufficient Tomahawk missile stocks, defense officials are still working to resolve issues regarding how Ukraine can be trained to use and deploy these missiles. They believe that Ukraine still needs to solve some operational problems to effectively use these missiles.
The Tomahawk cruise missile, with a range of up to 1,600 kilometers, is typically launched from surface ships or submarines, but given the severely weakened Ukrainian navy, the missiles will likely require land-based launches.
UN: Civilians on the Front Lines Face a Battle for Survival
Meanwhile, the United Nations warned that civilian life on the Ukrainian front lines is turning into a battle for survival, with Russian attacks on energy infrastructure potentially triggering a severe winter crisis.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Schmaler, told reporters in Geneva on Friday: "Disrupting energy production and transmission capabilities as winter approaches will obviously have an impact on civilians; this is an act of terrorism."
He warned that if repairs cannot keep pace with the rate of destruction, it could escalate into a major crisis. “With our current resources, it’s simply impossible for us to cope with a major crisis within a crisis,” Schmailer said. He added that 2025 will be deadlier for civilians than 2024, with casualties increasing by 30%. Moreover, one-third of all civilian deaths and injuries recorded in 2025 will be caused by drone attacks. “This is increasingly resembling a technology war, a drone war.”
