Trump opposes Ukraine’s strikes on Russia with long-range US weapons: "It only escalates war"
US President-elect Donald Trump has said that he does not support Ukraine's strikes with US-made missiles deep into Russian territory, as this allegedly "escalates the war".
Trump said this in an interview with Time magazine, Censor.NET reports.
I strongly disagree with firing missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing this? We are only escalating this war and making it worse," he said.
In his opinion, the situation in the Middle East is an easier problem to solve "than what is happening with Russia and Ukraine".
Time reminds us that during the election campaign, Trump liked to boast that he could conclude a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours.
Now he has admitted that it is more difficult than he had previously thought.
US Authorization for strikes on Russian territory
As a reminder, current US President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to launch long-range ATACMS missiles at Russian territory.
CNN noted that Biden's authorization to fire long-range missiles at Russia would complicate Trump's plans for a truce.
Axios writes that Biden's lifting of restrictions on long-range strikes applies only to the Kursk region of Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Ukraine's use of long-range ATACMS missiles to attack Russian territory would mean "direct participation of the United States and its satellites in hostilities against Russia."
On 19 November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the United States had authorised Ukraine to strike Russian territory with ATACMS ballistic missiles. However, he refused to confirm or deny the attack on the Bryansk region of Russia.
The White House said that the United States had changed its guidance to Ukraine and allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use US ATACMS ballistic missiles to hit targets in the Kursk region of Russia.
