End Ukraine war, don’t test missiles, Trump tells Putin
US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should end the war in Ukraine instead of testing nuclear missiles and that the US has a nuclear submarine off the Russian coast.
Putin said on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested the nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile, which he said could penetrate any defensive shield, and would move toward deploying the weapon.
Russia said the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Bird) flew for 14,000 km.
Asked about the test of the missile called SSC-X-9 Skyfall by the NATO military alliance on Air Force One, Trump said that the USA did not need to fly very far because it had a nuclear submarine off the Russian coast.
“They know we have the largest nuclear submarine in the world off their coast, so it doesn’t need to go 8,000 miles,” Trump told reporters, according to an audio file released by the White House.
“By the way, I don’t think it’s appropriate for Putin to say: You have to end the war, the war that was supposed to last a week has now entered its fourth year, this is what you should do instead of testing missiles.”
Since first announcing the 9M730 Burevestnik in 2018, Putin has used the weapon in response to moves to build a missile defense shield and expand NATO following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001.
When asked about Trump’s remarks, the Kremlin said Russia would act in its national interests but saw no reason why the missile test would strain relations with the White House.
“Despite all our openness to dialogue with the United States, Russia and the Russian President are guided, above all, by our own national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. he said.
“It was like that, it was like that and it will be like that.”
The Kremlin said Russia ensures its own security by developing new weapons.
“There is nothing here that could and should strain relations between Moscow and Washington,” Peskov said. he said.
Trump has repeatedly talked about moving U.S. submarines to Russia’s coast following comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the risk of war between nuclear-armed foes.
It is rare for either side to publicly discuss the location of nuclear-armed submarines.
Speaking about Russia’s missile test, Trump said, “We test missiles all the time.”
“They’re not playing games with us, we’re not playing games with them,” Trump said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expects allies to present a concise peace proposal to end the war in the coming days, US news outlet Axios reported on Monday.
In an interview on Sunday, Zelenskiy said the “coalition of the willing” – a loose alliance of 35 countries led by Britain and France – would try to find “some quick points” in the “next week or 10 days”.
However, the Ukrainian president expressed doubts that Putin would be ready to accept the deal.
with DPA
