US President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House on 15 July 2025. Photo: EPA/Al Drago / POOL
The White House has played down reports that US President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about launching aerial attacks on Moscow in a phone call earlier this month, with Trump himself stressing on Tuesday that Ukraine “shouldn’t target” the Russian capital.
“President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement after The Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday that Trump had “privately encouraged Ukraine to step up deep strikes on Russian territory” in a call with Zelensky on 4 July.
According to the FT, Trump asked Zelensky whether Kyiv could “hit Moscow [and] St. Petersburg too”, to which the Ukrainian president replied, “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons”.
Two unnamed sources briefed on the call told the FT that Trump then indicated his support for the idea of Ukraine striking major Russian cities to “make them [Russia] feel the pain” and force the Kremlin to negotiate an end to the war.
The conversation was prompted by Trump’s call with Putin the day before he spoke with Zelensky, the FT said, after which the US president said he was “very disappointed” and “didn’t make any progress” with the Russian leader.
On Tuesday evening, Trump told reporters outside the White House that Zelensky “shouldn’t target” Moscow in strikes and that the US was “not looking” to supply Kyiv with long-range missiles capable of hitting targets deeper inside Russian territory.
A day earlier, Trump announced that Washington would supply Ukraine with “top-of-the-line” weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, to defend itself from Russian attacks and threatened to impose “very severe” tariffs on Moscow’s trading partners should Putin not agree to a deal to end the war within 50 days.
The move marks a major shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the war in Ukraine, with the US president growing increasingly frustrated with Putin for declaring Russia’s readiness for peace while continuing to launch missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities.