Moscow is carefully monitoring the West’s provide of weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin’s spokesperson says shortly after United States President Donald Trump introduced the resumption of arms deliveries to Kyiv.
Dmitry Peskov additionally famous on Wednesday {that a} new cellphone name between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was not at present deliberate however may rapidly be organized, in line with Russian information reviews.
The feedback from the Kremlin got here two days after the US president confirmed rising impatience with Russia over its warfare in Ukraine.
In his sharpest rebuke of Moscow thus far, Trump introduced on Monday that Putin had till early September, 50 days, to just accept a peace deal or his nation would face steep US sanctions.
Trump mentioned they might be secondary tariffs concentrating on Russia’s buying and selling companions in a bid to isolate it from the worldwide financial system.
Russia’s strategy, within the meantime, is to “preserve calm and stick with it” within the face of Trump’s threats, consultants mentioned. There’s no certainty the stress will push Putin in direction of ending the warfare.
On the marketing campaign path earlier than November’s presidential election, Trump boasted that he would finish the warfare in Ukraine inside 24 hours of taking workplace.
Nonetheless, after at the least six cellphone conversations between Trump and Putin in addition to a number of conferences between US officers and officers from Russia and Ukraine, no ceasefire has been reached.
“My conversations with him are very nice, after which the missiles go off at night time,” Trump mentioned of his frustration with Putin.
The US chief added that he would provide extra weapons to Ukraine with European allies shopping for “billions and billions” of {dollars} of US navy gear to be transferred to Kyiv.
Patriot air defence methods are included within the plan, which Ukraine must defend itself towards Russian missile and drone assaults.
Trump, nonetheless, has mentioned Ukraine shouldn’t goal Moscow after he reportedly requested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if Kyiv may strike the Russian capital if he supplied long-range weaponry.
Trump made the feedback after The Monetary Instances on Tuesday reported that Trump had inspired Zelenskyy to step up strikes deep inside Russian territory throughout their cellphone name on July 4.
The report, which quoted two unnamed individuals aware of the dialogue, mentioned Trump had additionally requested his Ukrainian counterpart whether or not he may hit Moscow and St Petersburg if equipped with weapons with sufficient vary.
In response to a query on Tuesday about whether or not Zelenskyy ought to goal Moscow, Trump informed reporters on the White Home that he shouldn’t.
In a single day, the Russian navy launched 400 drones and one ballistic missile, concentrating on cities throughout Ukraine, together with Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia.
The strikes injured at the least 15 individuals and broken power infrastructure, the Ukrainian authorities mentioned on Wednesday.
Energy was down for 80,000 households in Kryvyi Rih and different components of the Dnipropetrovsk area, Ukraine’s non-public power firm DTEK mentioned on Telegram.
The Ukrainian air pressure acknowledged it had efficiently shot down many of the drones however 12 targets had been hit by 57 drones and the missile.
In current weeks, Moscow has elevated its aerial bombardments towards Ukraine with each day document numbers of drones and missiles being fired.
“Russia doesn’t change its technique, and to successfully counter this terror, we’d like a systemic strengthening of defences: extra air defences, extra interceptor [missiles], extra willpower to make Russia really feel our response,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Wednesday.
After beginning his second presidential time period in January, Trump sought to painting Washington’s help for Ukraine as a drain on US assets.
Regardless of Trump’s extra important stance towards Moscow this week, some American politicians proceed to specific considerations about his strategy, warning that Putin may use the 50-day tariff deadline to seize extra Ukrainian territory.
In a report that has but to be independently verified, Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned on Wednesday that its military seized the settlement of Novokhatske within the Donetsk area of jap Ukraine.