Zelensky reveals plan to strike Moscow as Trump | Political News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intends to strike the guts of Russia – but he wants Washington’s help.

That was the message in a Fourth of July cellphone call with Donald Trump – 11 days before the White House indicated a plan to work more carefully with NATO after failing to attain a peace deal with Vladimir Putin.

According to the Telegraph, Trump instructed his Ukrainian counterpart that he wished Ukraine to “make them [Russians] really feel the ache” and force them to the negotiation table.

“Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow?… Can you hit St Petersburg too?” Trump reportedly asked on the call.The Ukrainian president replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.

It was reported that, following Zelensky’s call with Trump, Kyiv received a list from US aides with various long-range strike systems that would be made available through third-party transfers. Despite Trump’s newfound willingness to drag Russia back to the negotiation table, the president is still hesitant to give Zelensky any Tomahawk missiles, which would obliterate any target 994 miles away.

Trump’s sudden willingness to help Ukraine comes after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on Monday. The two discussed how the U.S. would best help the country.

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During the meeting, however, Trump seemed testy when a reporter asked him how far he was willing to go should Russia not cooperate. “If Putin escalates additional, how far are you keen to go in response?” the reporter asked. The question seems to take a minute to sink in before Trump asks, “In what?”

“How far are you keen to go if Putin sends more bombs in the approaching days?” the reporter asks, seemingly touching a nerve of the president. “Don’t ask me a query like that,” snapped Trump.

The president’s frustrated response comes as he has expressed increasing anger with Putin’s prolonging of the war and inability to reach a peace deal in a major U-turn on his approach to the conflict. Doubling-down on his recent criticism’s of Putin, Trump said during the Monday conference: “[I] speak to him a lot… about getting this carried out. My conversations with him are at all times very nice. Very beautiful dialog. And then the missiles go off that night time.”

The president also confirmed during the Monday conference that he struck a deal to manufacture and send weapons to NATO, which will be given to Kyiv, after revealing the week prior that an agreement had been reached. “We made a deal at present where we’re going to be sending them weapons and they’re gonna be paying for them,” Trump said.

“The United States is not going to be having any fee made. We’re not shopping for it but we are going to manufacture it and they are going to be paying for it,” Trump added. Asked to clarify why he gave a 50-day deadline, Trump told reporters: “I believe it is a very short period of time. I’ve been concerned in this not very long. This is a Biden warfare, a Democrat warfare, not a Republican or Trump warfare.”

The convention was held after Trump met with Rutte on Monday morning, as tensions escalate in Ukraine, with 4 killed earlier in the day in Ukraine‘s Sumy area by Russian airstrikes, and hope for a ceasefire dwindles to the growing ire of Trump.