Trump says Ukraine should not target Moscow
Trump made the comments after The Financial Times on Tuesday reported that the US president had encouraged Zelenskyy to step up strikes deep inside Russian territory during their phone call on July 4.
The report, which cited two unnamed people familiar with the discussion, said Trump had also asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether he could hit Moscow and St Petersburg if supplied with weapons with enough range.
In response to a question on Tuesday about whether Zelenskyy should target Moscow, Trump told reporters at the White House that he should not.
Trump also told reporters that 'we're not looking' at providing Kyiv with longer-range missiles.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to confirm the discussion in a statement provided to multiple media outlets, but said it had been taken out of context.
'President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing,' Leavitt said in the statement provided to outlets including ABC News and USA Today.
In a sharp pivot in his stance on the war, Trump on Monday announced that he would supply more weapons to Ukraine, and threatened to impose steep secondary tariffs on Russia's trade partners if a peace deal is not reached within 50 days.
After returning to the White House in January, Trump repeatedly cast Washington's support for Ukraine as a drain on the US and accused Zelenskyy of hindering efforts to make peace.
But the US president's tone has shifted in recent weeks amid growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to negotiate an end to his invasion.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin said Trump's recent statements, including the threat of sanctions, were 'very serious' and that it would need time to assess the situation.
'We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington,' Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
'And if and when President Putin deems it necessary, he will definitely comment.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,242
This is how things stand on Sunday, July 20: Fighting Russian forces launched a missile attack on Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two people and damaging 'an outpatient clinic, a school and a cultural institution', according to the central region's governor, Serhiy Lysak. Another Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed at least one person overnight and wounded six others, including six children, officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched 'more than 300 strike drones and over 30 missiles' against Ukrainian cities during the overnight attack. The attacks also damaged critical infrastructure in the Sumy region, 'leaving several thousand families without electricity', the Ukrainian president added. In Russia, the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said early on Sunday that Russian air defences downed at least 15 Ukrainian drones heading for the capital. Russia's Ministry of Defence said early on Sunday that its air defence units destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones, including 21 over the Bryansk region, on the Ukrainian border. This came hours after the ministry said its air defence units shot down six missiles and 349 drones over Russian territory on Saturday. Earlier, Russia had to suspend trains for about four hours overnight in the southern Rostov region when it came under a Ukrainian drone attack, which injured one railway worker. The acting governor of the Rostov region, on Ukraine's eastern border, said Ukrainian drones had also caused fires and knocked down power lines. Politics and diplomacy Zelenskyy said Ukraine sent Russia a proposal offering a new round of peace talks to take place next week, after negotiations stalled last month. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of deporting Ukrainians to Georgia and leaving them stranded there without proper documents, hundreds of miles from their home. He said Ukraine has brought back 43 people so far, but more people remain in 'difficult conditions' at the border. Earlier, Volunteers Tbilisi, an aid group, said at least 56 Ukrainians, mostly prisoners who completed their sentences and were subsequently ordered to leave Russia, were being held in 'inhumane' conditions in a basement near the Russian-Georgian border. India said it did not support 'unilateral sanctions' by the European Union, after Brussels imposed penalties on Russia that included a Rosneft oil refinery in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Trump signs stablecoin regulations into law, a major crypto milestone
Agencies US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, a milestone that could pave the way for the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money. The bill, dubbed the GENIUS Act, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 308 to 122, with support from nearly half the Democratic members and most Republicans. It had earlier been approved by the Senate. The law is a huge win for crypto supporters, who have long lobbied for such a regulatory framework in a bid to gain greater legitimacy for an industry that began in 2009 as a digital Wild West famed for its innovation and speculative chaos. 'This signing is a massive validation of your hard work and pioneering spirit,' said Trump at a signing event that included dozens of government officials, crypto executives and lawmakers. 'It's good for the dollar and it's good for the country.' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a statement, said the new technology would buttress the dollar's status as the global reserve currency, expand access to the dollar economy and boost demand for US Treasuries, which back stablecoins. Stablecoins are designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 US dollar peg, and their use has exploded, notably by crypto traders moving funds between tokens. The industry hopes they will enter mainstream use for sending and receiving payments instantly. The new law requires stablecoins to be backed by liquid assets - such as US dollars and short-term Treasury bills - and for issuers to disclose publicly the composition of their reserves monthly. Crypto companies and executives argue such legislation will enhance stablecoins' credibility and make banks, retailers and consumers more willing to use them to transfer funds instantly. The stablecoin market, which crypto data provider CoinGecko said is valued at more than $260 billion, could grow to $2 trillion by 2028 under the new law, Standard Chartered bank estimated earlier this year. The law's passage culminates a long lobbying effort by the industry, which donated more than $245 million in last year's elections to aid pro-crypto candidates including Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data. The Republican president, who has launched his own coin, thanked executives for their support during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying, 'I pledged that we would bring back American liberty and leadership and make the United States the crypto capital of the world, and that's what we've done.' Democrats and critics have said the law should have blocked big tech companies from issuing their own stablecoins, which could increase the clout of an already powerful sector, contained stronger anti-money laundering protections and prohibited foreign stablecoin issuers. 'By failing to close known loopholes and protect America's digital dollar infrastructure, Congress has risked making the US financial system a global haven for criminals and adversarial regimes to exploit,' said Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International US. Big US banks are internally debating an expansion into cryptocurrencies as regulators give stronger backing to digital assets, but banks' initial steps will focus on pilot programs, partnerships or limited crypto trading, Reuters reported in May. Several crypto firms including Circle and Ripple are seeking banking licenses, which would cut costs by bypassing intermediary banks. Backers of the bill have said it could potentially give rise to a new source of demand for short-term US government debt, because stablecoin issuers will have to purchase more of the debt to back their assets. Trump has sought to broadly overhaul US cryptocurrency policies, signing an executive order in March establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve. The president launched a meme coin called $TRUMP in January and partly owns crypto company World Liberty Financial.
Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Crypto sector breaches $4 trn in market value
Agencies New York The crypto sector's market value hit $4 trillion on Friday, according to CoinGecko, marking a milestone that reflects its shift from a nascent asset class to a central part of the global investment landscape. A wave of renewed optimism, regulatory clarity in key markets and rising institutional flows have catapulted the crypto sector to a newvaluation peak. The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to create a regulatory framework for US-dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens, known as stablecoins, sending the bill to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law. 'The arrival of the Trump legislation signaled an about-turn in attitudes towards the crypto industry, but legislators are still exercising some caution,' said Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown. House lawmakers also passed two other crypto bills, sending them next to the Senate for consideration. One lays out a regulatory framework for crypto, while the other seeks to ban the US from issuing a central bank digital currency. The $4 trillion milestone underscores how far the crypto industry has come from its speculative, fringe origins. With growing interest from asset managers, new exchange-traded products and broader adoption among retail and corporate users, digital assets are increasingly shaping conversations in global finance. Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 dollar peg, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds between tokens. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years, and proponents say they could be used to send payments instantly. 'The Genius Act will go down in history as a law that served as a foundational step in mainstreaming of crypto as an asset class,' said Chris Perkins, president, CoinFund. Corporate treasury allocations to bitcoin are also gaining pace, with a growing number of public companies adding the token to their balance sheets as a long-term store of value. The sector was last trading at a combined market value of $3.92 trillion, as bitcoin — the world's largest cryptocurrency — fell 1.8 percent. Bitcoin crossed the $120,000 mark earlier this week, setting a record. Brokerage Bernstein forecast it could climb to $200,000 by end-2025. Ether, the second-biggest crypto token was last up 4.5 percent. It has more than doubled over the past three months. The crypto rally also powered gains in linked equities, with Coinbase and Robinhood climbing to all-time highs on Friday. Shares of the crypto exchange were last up 1 percent, while the retail trading platform, which also supports crypto trades, gained 3percent.
