‘Firepower’ coming for Ukraine, Hegseth says, but Tomahawks not on agenda at NATO meeting

By Todd Symons, CNN

(CNN) — United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Moscow on Wednesday that if its war on Ukraine does not come to an end, the US and NATO allies would “impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression.”

Hegseth said “Firepower, that’s what is coming,” to Ukraine through European nations’ purchases of US weapons, but whether that includes American-made Tomahawk missiles is still not clear.

Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group of Kyiv’s allies at NATO headquarters, Hegseth urged countries to increase investment in weapons purchases under the new Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.

Ukraine remains heavily reliant on US weapons more than three-and-a-half years after Russia launched its full scale ground invasion into the country.

The program has seen $2 billion pledged for military equipment for Ukraine, however this falls short of the $3.5 billion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hoped to have by October.

Hegseth called on NATO countries to “turn words into action in the form of PURL investments. All countries around this table, no free riders.” Hegseth said.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said more than half of NATO member states have now committed to the PURL program, adding that “commitments” made by European nations would soon turn into “capabilities” for Ukraine.

“Coming out of today’s meeting we have over half of all allies so more than 16, 17 allies now committing to PURL,” Rutte told NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels.

After pledging money at Wednesday’s meeting Sweden’s Defense Minister Pal Jonson told CNN’s Isa Soares that there is “much more alignment” now between the position of the United States and Europe over Ukraine.

“We would do a similar reading that Putin doesn’t really seem interested in negotiating, and he certainly will not negotiate unless he is put under more pressure,” Jonson said.

“The road to peace in Ukraine goes by having more sanctions on the Russian economy and it goes by delivering more weapons to the Ukrainians,” he added.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal expressed his gratitude to the nations that had announced new contributions to the PURL program, and to the countries that joined the initiative on Wednesday.

“We need decisive action to increase pressure on Russia and force it to end its war,” Shmyhal said.

American Tomahawks

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.

Trump said Wednesday that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will make the case for going on offense in the war against Russia when he visits the White House later this week.

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.

“They want to go offensive,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “I’ll make a determination on that, but they would like to go offensive.”

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.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday warned that supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks would cause colossal damage to Washington’s relations with Moscow.

Lavrov, in an interview with Kommersant, said the move would be seen as a serious escalation, harming any chance of normalizing US-Russian relations that he described as being in a “deadlock.”

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.

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CNN’s Clare Sebastian, Catherine Nicholls Nina Subkhanberdina and Jonny Hallam contributed to this report.