Trump says Ukraine should not target Moscow | Russia-Ukraine War News

The American president’s remarks follow the report indicating that he encouraged Kyiv to intensify strikes in Russian territory.

The United States President Donald Trump said Ukraine should not target Moscow after asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if kyiv could hit the Russian capital if he provided long-range weapons.

Trump made these comments after the Financial Times reported on Tuesday that the American president had encouraged Zelenskyy to intensify the strikes at the bottom of the Russian territory during their telephone call on July 4.

The report, which quoted two anonymous people familiar with the discussion, said that Trump also asked his Ukrainian counterpart if he could strike Moscow and Saint Petersburg if he was supplied with weapons with enough range.

In response to a question Tuesday on the question of whether Zelenskyy should target Moscow, Trump told journalists in the White House that he should not.

Trump also told journalists that “we are not looking for” to provide Kyiv for longer range missiles.

The white house press secretary Karoline Leavitt seemed to confirm the discussion in a statement provided to several media, but said that he had been withdrawn from his context.

“President Trump simply asked a question, without encouraging more murder,” Leavitt said in the press release provided to the media, including ABC News and USA Today.

In a lively pivot in his position on the war, Trump announced on Monday that he weapon In Ukraine, and threatened to impose steep secondary rates on Russia’s business partners if a peace agreement is not reached within 50 days.

After going back to the White House in January, Trump repeatedly threw Washington’s support from Ukraine as a drainage in the United States and accused Zelenskyy of embarrassing efforts to make peace.

But the tone of the American president has changed in recent weeks in the midst of growing frustration with the refusal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate the end of his invasion.

The Kremlin said on Trump’s recent statements, including the threat of sanctions on Tuesday, including the threat of sanctions, were “very serious” and that it would need time to assess the situation.

“We certainly need time to analyze what has been said in Washington,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, journalists in Moscow.

“And if and when President Putin judges him necessary, he will certainly comment.”