Donald Trump appears to have backtracked after allegedly asking the Ukrainian president if his country was able to bomb the Russian capital.
The US president reportedly asked during a private phone call with Volodymyr Zelesnky whether Ukraine was capable of bombing Moscow or St Petersburg.
Mr Zelensky said he could if the US provided them with long-range weapons, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
But within hours of the details of the alleged phone call leaking to the press, Trump came out and said Ukraine ‘shouldn’t’ target Moscow.
When asked by reporters at the White House whether Mr Zelensky should target the Russian capital, he replied: ‘No, he shouldn’t target Moscow.’
This is despite Trump recently encouraging Kyiv to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, in a move intended to ‘make them [Russians] feel the pain’ and force the Kremlin to take part in ceasefire negotiations.
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It followed Trump’s conversation with Vladimir Putin a day earlier, which he described as ‘bad’.
Tomahawk missiles and precision strike cruise missiles with a range of 994 miles are some of the weapons on Ukraine’s wish list.
Just like Biden’s administration, Trump has been reluctant to deploy the weapons, citing Ukraine’s potential lack of restraint.
But the Republican’s previously flourishing relationship with Putin has been rocky over the lack of progress in reaching a ceasefire deal, which seems to have tipped the scales in Ukraine’s favour.
Sitting beside Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in the Oval Office yesterday, he announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports, of which crude makes up a major chunk.
The ‘severe’ tariffs would be put in place if the Kremlin does not agree to end the war and gave it a deadline of 50 days to implement a deal.
During a call with the BBC, when asked if he was done with Putin, he said: ‘I am disappointed in him, but I am not done with him. But I am disappointed in him.’
And when pressed on whether he trusts the Russian leader, he replied: ‘I trust almost no one.’
Responding to Trump’s threat, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said he does not care about his ‘theatrical ultimatum’.
He said in a post in English on X: ‘Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin.
‘The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia did not care.’
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