President-elect Donald Trump has said that he "vehemently" disagrees with the US supporting long-range missile strikes inside Russian territory, which President Biden authorized last month.
"I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?" Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine for an issue that named him Person of the Year.
"We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done," Trump added.
Biden took the step to support Ukrainian strikes on Russia using US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles even after Moscow made clear it would risk a nuclear escalation.
Russia responded to Ukraine’s initial ATACMS and Storm Shadow strikes by firing a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile known as the Oreshnik.
Ukrainian forces fired more ATACMS into Russia this week, and the Russian Defense Ministry has vowed there will be another response:
"This attack by Western long-range weapons won’t be left unanswered, and corresponding measures will be taken," the ministry said.
Trump campaigned on ending the proxy war in Ukraine but has not articulated how exactly he plans to do that. He was asked in the Time interview if he would “abandon” Ukraine and responded:
"I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon. You understand what that means, right?"
The president-elect stressed in the interview that he was concerned with the death toll in the conflict, saying it was much higher than what’s been reported. He said the "numbers of dead young soldiers lying on fields all over the place are staggering. It’s crazy what’s taking place."
