NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday night endorsed President Donald Trump’s decision not to send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine for its war with Russia.
Rutte told CNN after a closed-door meeting with Trump at the White House that “one specific weapon system” could not change the course of the war, whether supplied by the U.S. or its European allies, The Hill reported.
He echoed comments made to Newsmax last week by retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, a former NATO supreme allied commander.
Clark said that even if the U.S. supplied the missiles, they wouldn’t be enough to turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor.
“I think what the president explained today is that for the Tomahawk system, and he was completely right here, it takes months for anyone other than American soldiers to be trained on them,” Rutte said, according to The Hill. “So, it is not that if you decide today, Ukrainians can use them tomorrow.”
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that it takes about a year to train operators on the Tomahawk, a long-range cruise missile.
The weapon can strike targets up to 1,000 miles away, even in heavily defended airspace.
“But there is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk,” Trump said, according to The Hill. “It’s a very powerful weapon, very accurate weapon, and maybe that’s what makes it so complex.
“But it will take a year. It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it, and we’re not going to be teaching other people.
“It will be too far out into the future.”
Rutte said he and Trump agreed that “sustained pressure” on Russia’s economy was needed.
“You see, therefore, that when Putin feels under threat, that he feels things are moving in the wrong direction, he starts to react and act,” Rutte said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “So, all of this shows that they are not on a sure footing.
“The Russians and the economy [are] not doing well.”
Earlier Wednesday, the Treasury Department sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.
The move followed Trump’s decision to cancel a second meeting with Putin in Budapest, Hungary.
“It just didn’t feel right to me,” Trump said about canceling the meeting with Putin, according to The Hill. “It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get.
“So, I canceled it, but we’ll do it in the future.”
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