US envoy says Ukraine could be authorised to ‘hit deep’ into Russia

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Mr Keith Kellogg, has floated the possibility of long-range strikes by Ukraine against Russia with American weapons, following the administration’s recent pivot on the conflict.

In a Fox News interview broadcast on Sept 28, Mr Kellogg was asked whether Mr Trump had authorised strikes deep into Russian territory – days after Moscow was accused of sending fighter jets and drones that violated the airspace of several European nations.

“Reading what (Trump) has said and reading what Vice-President (J.D.) Vance has said, as well as (Secretary of State Marco) Rubio, the answer is yes,” he said.

“Use the ability to hit deep. There are no such things as sanctuaries.”

Vice-President Vance said in a separate Fox News programme on Sept 28 that the US was having “conversations” on whether to

give long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kyiv

, a request that Mr Trump has previously denied.

“It’s something that the President is going to make the final determination on,” Mr Vance said, referring to the missiles, adding that the US was “looking at a number of requests from the Europeans”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a press briefing on Sept 29 that there was “no panacea that can change the situation on the front for the Kyiv regime”.

“There’s no magic weapon. Whether it’s Tomahawks or other missiles, they won’t be able to change the dynamic.”

Mr Trump said last week after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Kyiv was in a position, with the European Union’s help, to

fight and win “all of Ukraine back

in its original form”.

Russia annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea after an operation in 2014 and now controls regions in eastern and southern Ukraine following Moscow’s

full-scale invasion in February 2022

.

It marks a shift on Ukraine for Mr Trump, who told Mr Zelensky during a

televised Oval Office bust-up

in February that “you don’t have the cards” to beat Russia.

Russia has vowed to press on with its offensive in the 3½-year-long conflict, with the Kremlin recently dismissing Mr Trump’s claim that the country was a “paper tiger” with a floundering economy. AFP