Europe’s defence giants rise by £8bn after Trump backs Ukraine. Zelensky now wants Tomahawk missiles
European defence stocks gained £8bn in value after Donald Trump backed Ukraine to reclaim all of its territory from Russia.
On Wednesday, Sept 24, shares in top weapons makers including BAE Systems, Thales, Safran and Rheinmetall were lifted by the US president’s comments offering greater American support for Kyiv’s war effort, informs The Telegraph.
Airbus, Leonardo and Babcock also rose as investors piled in to buy shares in the hope they will prosper from more military spending if the conflict continues.
The Stoxx Europe Total Market Aerospace and Defence index – which tracks the shares of EU military contractors – hit a record high of 2,821.06 points, up nearly 1pc.
Donald Trump’s position marks a major reversal from his previous calls for Ukraine to give up land to end the war.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Russia is starting to look like a “paper tiger” and that Ukraine could now be in a position to restore its “original borders from where this war started” with sufficient support from NATO and the European Union.
“Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.
With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” Trump wrote.
He added: “Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger’.”
Trump had previously called on Kyiv to swap land in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in a deal to end the war.
Since the start of the war in 2022, Russia has captured around one fifth of Ukraine’s land mass including almost the entirety of Luhansk and 70% of Donetsk alongside large swathes of Zaporizhzhia Oblast on Ukraine’s southern coast.
Trump’s post added that the US will continue to supply weapons to NATO while suggesting a downturn in Russia’s economy has left it vulnerable to a Ukrainian counterattack.
“Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” he said. “Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!”
Trump’s post followed talks between him and Zelensky at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Zelensky asks Trump for Tomahawk missiles in private UN meeting
Volodymyr Zelensky has requested Tomahawk missiles in a behind-closed-doors meeting with Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian president told his American counterpart the high-tech weapons system would help bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to discuss a peace accord.
Diplomatic sources explained for The Telegraph that Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, told Europeans counterparts that Trump’s change in tone on Ukraine should be viewed “as positive as possible”.
Rubio also conveyed that the US president is “really angry” at Putin for ignoring his attempts to bring an end to the three-and-a-half-year war.
It is uncertain whether Zelensky’s attempts to secure Tomahawk missiles from the US will be a success.
With a range of up to 1,500 miles and a 450kg warhead, such a cruise missile is far more effective than any similar long-range weapon donated to Kyiv by Western allies.
Joe Biden, the former US president, rebuffed a similar request, which came as part of a 10-point “Victory Plan” presented by Zelensky at the end of Biden’s tenure in the White House.
The provision of the long-range missile was deemed too risky because it would be able to strike targets in Moscow and likely be able to evade Russia’s most advanced air-defence systems, potentially escalating the conflict to an extremely dangerous point for the entire planet.
Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, said Kyiv’s request was the logical next step after receiving weapons like Britain’s Storm Shadow.
“The logic is simple and understandable. If Russia has long-range cruise missiles, then Ukraine needs to have similar capabilities to strike targets at the same depths,” he said.
Kuzan, who is a former adviser to Ukraine’s defence ministry, added: “If anyone says that this is impossible, let me remind you, quite recently we were denied tanks and the supply of F-16s took a long time to agree.
Our goal remains uncharged: all available types of weapons must be delivered to Ukraine as soon as possible.”
yogaesoteric
September 26, 2025