Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank, told Kyiv Post in an interview Friday evening that Trump remains “very focused on ending the war and has preferred negotiation and diplomacy to continued fighting.”
Kavanagh’s assessment highlighted the transactional nature of the Trump administration, suggesting the administration views military aid as a bargaining chip, not a strategic imperative.
She was unsurprised by the silence on Tomahawks, citing their “escalation risks” and the lack of readily available launchers or sufficient U.S. stockpiles.
Crucially, Kavanagh highlighted a specific kind of dealmaking pitch from Zelensky: a “drones for Tomahawks” swap, or more realistically, a trade of Ukraine’s drone expertise for other critical materiel. She strongly suggested that air defense capabilities would be a more sensible return on investment than Tomahawks.
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