(MENAFN) US President Donald Trump has indicated that providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev would not be “easy,” emphasizing that the United States requires these weapons for its own defense.

Speaking during a bilateral lunch with Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky before their formal meeting at the White House on Friday, Trump admitted that sending missiles to Ukraine could pose significant complications, especially if the US were to face a conflict simultaneously.

“That’s a problem. We need Tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we’ve been sending over the last four years to Ukraine… We gave them a lot," he remarked.

He further noted, “It’s not easy for us to give. You’re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons.”

Trump recognized the risks of enabling Kiev to launch strikes deep into Russian territory, warning that it could trigger “an escalation.”

Nonetheless, he mentioned that he and Zelensky planned to discuss the matter further.

He described Tomahawks as “an amazing weapon.”

“But they’re a very dangerous weapon… It could mean a lot of bad things can happen,” Trump cautioned.

Earlier, Trump said he would review his recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue with Zelensky.

According to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, Putin conveyed to Trump that providing Ukraine with long-range missiles would not change the direction of the conflict but would nonetheless damage Moscow-Washington relations, as reported by news agencies.

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