WASHINGTON: US president-elect Donald Trump criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied missiles for attacks deep into Russian territory in a Time magazine interview published on Thursday, comments that suggest he could alter US policy towards Ukraine.

“It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done,” Trump said in an interview to mark his being named Time’s Person of the Year.

President Joe Biden last month lifted the US ban on Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, his latest attempt to boost Kyiv in its battle to repel a Russian invasion force from his country.

The decision came after pleas from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The White House cited Russia’s deployment of 15,000 North Korean troops along the battlefront as the main reason why Biden changed his mind.

Moscow says it will ‘definitely’ respond to Kyiv’s ATACMS strike

In a response to recent missile attack, Kremlin said on Thursday Russia will “definitely” respond to a Ukrainian attack on a southern airfield using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

Trump has said he would like to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war but has been cagey on the details. He told Time he had a “very good plan” to help but that if he reveals it now “it becomes almost a worthless plan.” Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine, Trump said: “I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”

He said the entry of North Korean troops into the picture was a “very complicating factor.”

Trump told Time that the number of people dying in the conflict, especially in the last month, was “staggering.” “I’m talking on both sides. It’s really an advantage to both sides to get this thing done,” he said.

Asked whether he would cut US military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine if Kyiv did not agree to a peace deal, Trump said, “I think I have a very good plan to help, but when I start exposing that plan, it becomes almost a worthless plan.”

Airfield attack

Russia’s defence ministry on Wednesday accused Ukraine of firing the missiles in an overnight attack on an airfield in the port city of Taganrog in the southern Rostov region.

President Vladimir Putin has previously threatened to launch its new hypersonic ballistic missile, named Oreshnik, at the centre of Kyiv if Ukraine does not halt its attacks on Russian territory using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2024