Trump says he may sell Tomahawks to Ukraine. Is he bluffing?

Threat a sign of growing frustration with Russian leader who has refused to end war

- Luke Broadwater and Eric Schmitt

Fresh off negotiating a peace deal intended to end the war in the Gaza Strip, US President Donald Trump on Oct 14 suggested that he may allow a sale of US-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the ability to conduct long-range strikes deep into Russia.

That is exactly the kind of message that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to hear as he prepares for a visit to the White House on Oct 17.

"He would like to have Tomahawks," Mr Zelensky. "We have a lot of Tomahawks."

But it is also something that Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against, saying that such a sale would signal a "qualitatively new stage of escalation".

Mr Trump's threats to provide the missiles to Ukraine - whether he follows through on them or not - are a sign of his growing frustration with Mr Putin, who has refused to budge or compromise despite the US President's splashy attempts at diplomacy.

The US Defence Department has drawn up plans to sell or transfer Tomahawks should Mr Trump give the order. But providing the weapons would come with enormous challenges, not least the fact that Ukraine does not have the naval or ground-based launchers required to fire the missiles.

Ukraine would need a US Army launcher called Typhon to fire the Tomahawks, a step that military officials say would pull Washington closer to direct confrontation with Russia. It is unclear how many Tomahawks the US could provide, how Ukraine would safely store them and what impact a limited number of the missiles would have.

There are also real concerns of escalating tensions with Russia, a point underscored by the Kremlin's recent warnings to Washington not to provide the long-range arms to Ukraine.