trump-rejects-long-range-missiles-for-ukraine

A local defence magazine had reported earlier that the US president is considering sending JASSM cruise missiles to Kyiv.

 

US President Donald Trump has denied media reports that Washington has been planning to supply Ukraine with weapons capable of striking deep into Russian territory.

 

Military Watch Magazine claimed on Monday, citing informed sources, that Trump is considering providing Kiev with Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM).

 

The US-made weapons have a range of up to 1,000km, depending on the modification, and could potentially endanger Moscow and St. Petersburg if fired by Ukrainian F16 jets.

 

When questioned by journalists on Tuesday about possible deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine, the US president said: “No, we are not looking to do that.”

 

Earlier on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that Trump had privately asked Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky if he could hit Moscow and St. Petersburg, to which he allegedly replied “absolutely” if Washington supplied Kiev with the relevant weapons.

 

The US president insisted later in the day that Zelensky “should not target Moscow,” while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the Financial Times a “dying” newspaper that is “notorious for taking words wildly out of context to get clicks.”

 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov brushed off the report, saying that “as a rule, all of this usually turns out to be fake.”

 

On Monday, Trump threatened to impose secondary US tariffs of up to 100% on Russia’s trading partners unless progress toward a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv is made within 50 days.

 

He also authorised new weapons deliveries to Ukraine, which are to be paid for by European NATO members.

 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov reacted to the announcement by saying that “any attempts to make demands, let alone issue ultimatums, are unacceptable [to Moscow].”

 

Peskov also stressed that “such decisions, made in Washington, in NATO countries, and in Brussels, are perceived by the Ukrainian side not as a signal toward peace, but as a signal to continue the war.”