Ukraine could soon bomb the heart of Russia – on the request of Donald Trump – if the US provides long-range weapons, it is alleged.
It is understood that the US president has – very privately – encouraged his Ukrainian counterpart to step up attacks on Russian territory and even hit Moscow.
‘Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? Can you hit St Petersburg too?’ he asked Volodymyr Zelesnky, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
According to them, Zelensky replied: ‘Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.’
Trump signalled his backing for the strategy, describing it as intended to ‘make them [Russians] feel the pain’ and force the Kremlin to negotiations, according to the two people briefed on the call that is set to have taken place on July 4.
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 994mph 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.
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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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