The Ukrainian leader has said sanctions are not enough to influence Moscow<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky has said once again that the US should provide Kiev with long-range weapons capable of striking targets deep inside Russia.
\nEarlier this month, US President Donald Trump ruled out supplies of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which have a maximum range of around 2,500km (1,550 miles), after a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Despite rejecting Zelensky\u2019s request, Trump later introduced sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil.
\nZelensky praised the move in a phone interview with Axios on Monday, saying that economic restrictions \u201cwill make a difference.\u201d The Ukrainian leader, who has long been pushing for Washington to provide Tomahawks, said however that sanctions were not enough to deter Moscow.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Macron \u2018dreams\u2019 of military intervention in Ukraine \u2013 Moscow<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump is concerned about escalation. But I think that if there are no negotiations, there will be an escalation anyway. I think that if Putin does not stop, we need something to stop him. Sanctions is one such weapon, but we also need long-range missiles\u201d capable of hitting energy facilities deep inside Russia, he said.
\nZelensky said he told Trump during their meeting earlier in October that Kiev would not necessarily have to use the US-supplied munitions immediately.
\nMoscow will engage in talks if Putin knows not talking will lead to \u201cproblems with Russia\u2019s energy facilities,\u201d Zelensky opined.
\nThe Russian president said previously that deliveries of long-range missiles to Kiev would \u201cseverely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement\u201d of the Ukraine conflict and damage ties between Moscow and Washington, as it is \u201cimpossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of American military personnel.\u201d In a separate statement last week, the Russian leader warned of a \u201cvery serious, if not downright staggering\u201d response to any Ukrainian Tomahawk strike.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Moscow remains ready for Putin-Trump talks \u2013 presidential aide<\/p>\n
Moscow maintains that it is ready for a diplomatic settlement but insists that any deal must address the root causes of the conflict and include guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO, along with the country\u2019s demilitarization, denazification, and recognition of the territorial realities on the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ukrainian leader has said sanctions are not enough to influence Moscow Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky has said once again that the US should provide Kiev with long-range weapons capable of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t