Kremlin Praises Trump For Ukraine's Criticism Of Using ATACMS Missiles To Attack Russia

Ukrainian Military/PHOTO via Instagram @ukraine_defence

JAKARTA - The Kremlin praised US President-elect Donald Trump for criticizing the Ukrainian missile attack on Russian territory. But the Kremlin said discussions about deploying European troops to maintain the possibility of peace in Ukraine in the future were too early.

With Russia's progress reaching its fastest level since the 2022 invasion, Trump and several European leaders have discussed how to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump criticized Ukraine's use of missiles to carry out a deep attack on Russia in an interview with Time magazine published on Thursday, saying it was "crazy" because it could increase the war. He said Washington should not allow that.

"The statement itself is completely in accordance with our position," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said Trump's statement was in line with our vision of the cause of the escalation'.

"This is interesting to us," Peskov said. "It's clear that Trump understands exactly what is worsening this situation."

Russia says US President Joe Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles could trigger a world war, but some Western leaders think Russia has military ambitions outside Ukraine.

Kyiv said it should be able to attack its enemy although some US officials questioned whether Ukrainian missile attacks could change the direction of war.

Russia said on Wednesday that Ukraine had attacked a military airfield in the Azov Sea with six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.

After Ukraine attacked Russia with ATACMS last month, Russia fired a new hypersonic ballistic missile known as "Oreshnik", orgueg Tree, into Ukraine, and Putin said Russia had the right to attack US and British military facilities.