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DONALD Trump has urged Volodymyr Zelensky not to target Moscow with US-manufactured missiles – just days after he reportedly Kyiv if Russia’s capital was in reach.
A bombshell report claimed that Trump asked the Ukrainian leader if he can “make them [Russia] feel the pain” when the pair held a phone call at the start of the month.
The US President asked: “Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? Can you hit St Petersburg too?”, according to the Financial Times, citing two sources.
Zelensky responded: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”
It comes as Trump pledged to send “top of the line weapons” used by the US over to Nato so they can deploy them in Kyiv.
These are believed to include cruise missiles which could be able to reach Moscow and all the major Russian cities depending on what is sent.
But Trump has now pushed back on the reports of him enquiring about Ukraine’s next targets.
He told reporters that he has actually warned Zelensky to not even think about attacking Moscow if he ever wants the conflict to end.
Trump did not directly mention the FT report but the White House did earlier today.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued Trump’s words were taken out of context as the President “was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing“.
She continued, in a statement to the BBC: “He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war.”
Trump was also asked if he has now turned against Putin entirely and sided with Ukraine.
In recent days, the President has blasted Putin for his recent daily bombardments and urged Vlad to negotiate with Ukraine or face serious repercussions.
As he left the White House today however, he simply said: “I’m on nobody’s side.
“I want to stop the killing of thousands of people a week.”
The clearest sign yet that Trump is done playing diplomatic games with Putin came on Monday,
He issued a blistering crackdown on Moscow as he made a pledge to hit Russia with 100 percent tariffs if Putin doesn’t agree to a peace deal within 50 days.
Trump made the comments as he also agreed to supply weapons to help Kyiv in the war in the hopes of driving Putin to the negotiating table.
He vowed to send weapons compromising of “everything” in his arsenal in order to get Putin back into line after weeks of the tyrant incessantly bombing Ukraine.
One of the proposed weapons which could be included in the package deal is America’s joint air-to-surface standoff cruise missiles (JASSM).
Surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries are also said to be among the equipment being manufactured.
A furious Trump added he is “very unhappy” with Russia.
The President has spent the first seven months of his White House return urging both sides to come to the negotiating table.
But a snarling Putin has always declined and instead ramped up his ground and aerial offensives across Ukraine.
And the Kremlin’s reaction to Trump’s latest posture was again icy.
They mocked the deadline with sources saying they may now demand even more Ukrainian territory instead of laying down arms.
Russia will instead keep terrorising Ukrainian civilians during the seven-week period instead of surrendering in any form, they added.
Within hours of Trump’s tariff threat, Russia launched a fresh blitz across Ukraine, striking sites in Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.
Drones targeted a university in Sumy, wounding a 14-year-old girl and a 19-year-old student, while a missile hit a medical facility in Shostka.
In response, Ukraine launched its own drone blitz across southwest Russia, injuring civilians and damaging homes and industrial sites in Voronezh and Lipetsk.
What have experts said of Trump’s sending long-range weapons to Ukraine?
by Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter
DONALD Trump sending long-range weapons to Ukraine could be a game-changer for the war by helping halt Vladimir Putin’s nightly blitzes, experts said.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a decorated British Army commander, said the shipment of these long-range missiles would have profound “psychological and physical effects” on Ukraine.
Mr de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun: “These weapons can strike Moscow – over 400 miles from the border. That allows the Ukrainians to strike drone factory production and ammunition sites, and others.
“So this will have both psychological as well as physical effects.
“People in Moscow will realise that they potentially could be targeted.
“And when you also add to it the American bombings on Iranian sites that were supposed to be impregnable, it shows that American missile and drone technology rather superior to the Russian air defence system.”
The former army chief said these weapons will put real pressure on Russia, adding: “The metric has now changed and Trump’s decision could make a huge difference.”
Ex-military intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram told The Sun how these long-range weapons could help strike Russian missile and drone launchpads – the ones that are used to launch nightly attacks on Ukraine.
He said: “The Ukrainians are already attacking to hit Russian military logistics, defence industry bases.
“And with these sophisticated weapons, they will have increased capability of doing so.
“It will impact the ability of the Russians to prosecute these increasingly large drone and rocket attacks on a nightly basis.
“And then that’s the best way for the Ukrainians to stop it.”
