United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said “firepower” is coming to Ukraine through European nations’ purchases of US weapons, but whether that includes American-made Tomahawk missiles is still not clear.
“Firepower, that’s what is coming,” said Hegseth, backing up comments from NATO chief Mark Rutte as the security alliance’s defense ministers gathered in Brussels. He added that “commitments” made by European nations would soon turn into “capabilities” for Ukraine.
The weapons purchases are being made under the new Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, which has already seen $2 billion pledged for military equipment for Ukraine, with more expected to be committed by NATO nations on Wednesday.
Ukraine wants European nations to be able to buy it sophisticated long-range Tomahawk missiles under that mechanism, but that decision rests on US President Donald Trump.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to push for access to the American Tomahawks, which would allow it to strike deep within Russia and potentially put Moscow within range, when he meets with Trump on Friday at the White House.
Trump has previously indicated he may be willing to give Ukraine Tomahawks as his patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war waxes and wanes.
While the missiles are one of the key talking points in bolstering Ukraine’s defense, the matter was not on the agenda for discussion in Brussels on Wednesday.
“That is a bilateral question,” said Rutte, NATO’s secretary general, referring to direct discussions between Ukraine and the United States.
NATO’s defense ministers have already pledged more drones for Ukraine, with Britain pledging to deliver 100,000 drones and the Netherlands giving it 90 million euros ($104 million) to build its own.
Russia’s recent incursions into the airspace of various NATO nations – the most serious of which saw NATO aircraft fire their first shots of the war, shooting down suspected Russian drones over Poland last month – has focused European minds on how the continent responds.
Russia has claimed it did not deliberately fly its drones into Poland and said its jets did not violate NATO airspace.
“If NATO is threatened, we will act, and we must meet his (Putin’s) escalation with our strength,” said Britain’s Defense Minister John Healey on Wednesday.
Healey announced that British aircraft would continue operating in Polish airspace for the rest of the year, calling the Russian incursions “reckless, dangerous and totally unacceptable.”
But Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said Europe needed a better solution than fighter jets to deter Russia.
“I was very proud that our Dutch F-35s were able to take out some Shahed drones in Poland,” said Brekelmans, referring to the US-built aircraft that is among the most sophisticated fighter jets in NATO’s arsenal.
“But of course, we also need to learn from this. F-35s are not the most efficient way to take out drones, and we should find much more effective ways in order to do that,” he added.
“The Russian threat is coming more, and more, on NATO territory.”
In response to this threat, Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Sprūds said that weaponry with the ability to hit targets in Russia is “crucial” for Ukraine.
“As Russia bombs all sorts of civil infrastructure and kills civilians, for Ukraine it is also (a) legitimate right to hit military targets (in Russia), because this is also self-defense,” he said.
“So that’s also what NATO is absolutely projecting, that in any circumstances, in any scenario, we will be also willing and able to hit with deep strikes,” Sprūds continued.
“And I think this will be also important part of Ukrainian defense and deterrence: Don’t hit our targets because we can hit you back.”
Even after the Ukraine war ends, Russia will still pose a risk to Europe, Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen warned.
“Russia is really doing their military build-up for the second phase of their potential aggression… there are real threats for NATO after the Ukrainian war,” he said.
Hakkanen pointed to Russia’s military modernization and the build-up of troops “nearby our borders” as signs.
CNN’s Clare Sebastian and Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.
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