By Steve Holland and Helen Coster
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized Ukraine’s use of U.S.-led missile strikes against Russian territory in a Time magazine interview published on Thursday, in a move that could change U.S. policy toward Ukraine.
“Madness is taking place. Madness. I strongly disagree with sending weapons hundreds of kilometers into Russia. How are we doing that? We are only making this war worse. That should not be allowed to happen. , “Trump said in an interview to mark his nomination of Person of the Year.
Reliable and interesting news every day, in your inbox
See for yourself – The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and interesting stories.
President Joe Biden last month lifted a U.S. ban on Ukraine using U.S.-supplied missiles to strike inside Russia, his bid to bolster Kyiv in the battle to expel Russian forces from his country.
The decision came after a request from the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The White House cited Russia’s deployment of 15,000 North Korean troops on the battlefield as a major reason for Biden’s change of heart.
Mr Trump has said he wants an immediate end to the three-year war but has been worried about the issue. He told Time that he had a “very good plan” to help but that if he released it now “it would be a useless plan.”
Pressed to leave Ukraine, Trump said: “I want to reach a deal, and the only way you’re going to get a deal is not to leave.”
He said that the involvement of North Korean forces in the picture is “a very difficult thing.”
Trump, who takes office on January 20, met last week with Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Trump’s promise to end the conflict quickly has raised concerns in Kyiv that he may be too much in line with Moscow.
Sources told Reuters that Zelenskiy used the meeting to explain Ukraine’s need for security guarantees in any negotiated end to the war with Russia. He has always sought NATO membership.
Trump told Time that the number of people who have died in the conflict, especially in the past month, was “shocking.”
“I’m talking to both sides. It’s good for both sides to get this thing done,” he said.
Asked if he would cut off US military aid and aid to Ukraine if Kyiv does not agree to a peace deal, Trump said, “I think I have a good plan to help, but when I start exposing the plan, it’s going to look like a crappy plan.”
The battle 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 first weeks of the war.
Russia fired a hypersonic ballistic missile known as Oreshnik at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on November 21. President Vladimir Putin took this step as a response to Ukraine’s first use of US ATACMs ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows to strike Russian territory with Western approval. .
Washington says some exports of US air defenses to Ukraine are on their way to the country.
The United States last Saturday released $988 million in aid for new weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
Asked if he had spoken to Putin since being elected, Trump declined to say, “I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you. That’s inappropriate.”
(Reporting by Helen Coster and Steve Holland; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)