US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published on Thursday that he “very vehemently disagrees” with Ukraine attacking with US-supplied missiles deep inside Russian territory. TASR reports according to the AFP agency.
On the other hand, however, Trump insisted that he would not abandon aid to Ukraine, as American support for Kiev would be a key tool to end the war.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration has supplied Ukraine with long-range US ATACMS missiles capable of striking territory deep in Russia’s interior. The move prompted angry retaliation from Moscow, which responded by firing its new Oreshnik (hazelnut) supersonic missile into Ukrainian territory.
“I very vehemently disagree with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing this?… I think it’s an unwise decision,” Trump said in an interview with Time magazine, which named the Republican incoming US president “Person of the Year” on Thursday.
According to publicly available data, ATACMS missiles have a maximum range of 300 kilometers.
The interview with Trump for Time took place even before the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA and before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We are only escalating this war and making it even worse,” added Trump in the interview, who, according to his own words, would use Washington’s assistance to Kiev as a tool to end the war.
“I want to reach an agreement, and the only way to reach it is to not stop,” he added in this regard.
Negotiation positions
After publishing the interview, Russian news agencies immediately drew attention to Republican Trump’s apparent criticism of Kiev’s approach, writes Reuters.
In response, White House spokesman John Kirby said the remarks “will not put him at odds with the incoming Trump administration.”
“I can only echo President Biden’s policy and direction, and that is to do everything we can … to put President Zelensky in the best possible position if there is some kind of eating away,” Kirby told reporters.
