NEW YORK: The United States President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday that he disagrees “very vehemently” with Ukraine firing US-supplied missiles deep into Russia.
But Trump insisted he would not abandon Ukraine as US support for Kyiv would be key leverage in efforts to bring the war to a close.
Washington has supplied its long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine which can penetrate inside Russia, provoking angry retaliation from Moscow which has responded with its new hypersonic missile.
“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?” he said in an interview with Time Magazine.
The magazine named Trump its “person of the year” on Thursday.
ATACMS missiles have a maximum range of 190 miles (300 kilometres) according to publicly available data.
Efforts to End Ukraine War
The interview was conducted before Thanksgiving and Trump’s high-profile meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky brokered by France’s president on the sidelines of the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral.
“We’re just escalating this war and making it worse.”
Pressed on his support for Ukraine, which has been lukewarm with the Republican questioning the cost of backing Kyiv, Trump said he would use Washington’s backing as leverage to bring the war to a close.
“I want to reach an agreement and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”
The war is entering what some Russian and Western officials say could be its final and most dangerous phase as Moscow’s forces advance at their fastest pace since the early weeks of the conflict.
Russia fired a hypersonic ballistic missile known as the Oreshnik at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on November 21. President Vladimir Putin cast the move as a response to Ukraine’s first use of US ATACMs ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows to strike Russian territory with Western permission.
Washington’s Support for Ukraine
Washington says more deliveries of US air defence exports to Ukraine are on the way to the country.
The United States last Saturday unveiled a $988 million aid package of new arms and equipment to Ukraine.
Asked whether he had spoken to Putin since his election, Trump declined to answer, saying, “I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you. It’s just inappropriate.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said Ukraine needed a dozen additional Patriot systems to insulate its economy from the war.
Last June, the United States prioritised delivery of newly built Patriot systems to Ukraine, putting its original customers on a delayed delivery timeline. During the NATO summit in July, partners agreed to provide Ukraine with five additional Patriot systems.
On Saturday, Macron set up a trilateral meeting in Paris with Zelenskyy and US President-elect Donald Trump, who pushed Zelenskyy towards declaring a ceasefire but offered no security guarantees.
The next day, Trump told NBC in an interview that he was open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the US out of NATO.
“Possibly,” he said, when asked if Kyiv should prepare for less aid from the US.
Trump has previously pledged to end the Ukraine war quickly, but unlike US President Biden has not upheld Ukraine’s territorial integrity as a priority. It was Zelensky’s first meeting with Trump since the November 5 election. The pair did not make a joint statement.
