Donald Trump has slammed as “crazy” US-supplied long range missiles being fired by Ukraine into Russia.
The president-elect claimed allowing Kyiv to launch these weapons into Russia was “escalating this war”.
His comments are likely to be seen as signalling that he will withdraw consent for such use of long-range missiles when he re-enters the White House on January 20.
“It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia,” Trump said in an interview coinciding with him being named Time’s “Person of the Year”.
He added: “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 claims he can end the Ukraine war in a day, though has given little detail of how, and is expected to push for swift peace talks, which could see Kyiv having to give up large parts of the east of the country.
Britain pressed Joe Biden to give permission for long range missiles, including British Storm Shadows which use US data systems, to be fire into Russia.
The outgoing US president agreed earlier this year after thousands of North Korean troops were deployed to Russia to help Vladimir Putin recapture a swathe of the Kursk region which was seized by Ukrainian troops in a surprise offensive in August.
Russia is threatening retaliation after claiming Ukraine targeted a military airfield in the Rostov province with six US-made long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles earlier this week.
Britain has led the West in pushing for increasingly powerful weapons for Ukraine, first anti-tank systems, then Challenger II tanks and also Storm Shadow long range missiles.
Ukraine’s allies have been stepping up military aid to try to stop Putin seizing more territory in the east of the country before possible peace talks.
Sir Keir Starmer, who met the President of the European Council António Costa in Downing Street on Thursday, was stressing the UK’s resolve to stand by Kyiv.
“In their first meeting, the two leaders affirmed the intention to strengthen the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, agreeing on the vital importance of closer collaboration between like-minded partners at an increasingly volatile time for the world,” said No10.
“The two leaders also discussed current geopolitical challenges. They reiterated their unwavering commitment to providing continued political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed.”
Meanwhile, Putin ally Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, proposed a Christmas ceasefire and another prisoners of war swap between Russia and Ukraine but was criticised by Volodymyr Zelensky for calling the Russian president rather than maintaining unity with most other European leaders.
