In a phone call on July 3, Vladimir Putin informed Donald Trump that the Russian army would try to seize more Ukrainian territory, Axios reported.
According to the publication, which cited its sources, this angered the American president, who will announce a new plan to arm Kiev and help the Ukrainians repel the Russian offensive.
Sending offensive weapons would be a big change for Trump, who until recently claimed that he would only provide defensive weapons to avoid escalating the conflict.
The plan is likely to include long-range missiles that could reach targets deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow. However, no final decision has been announced yet.
“He wants to take everything (in Ukraine)”, Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron shortly after his conversation with Putin, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
Putin told Trump that the Russian military would try to seize more Ukrainian territory over the next 60 days. Axios did not specify where the offensive would be carried out, but UNIAN reported that it would target the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said that Washington would send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine to help it deal with Russian strikes. Influential US Senator Lindsey Graham has defended his proposal for drastic sanctions against Moscow - a plan that is making progress as Donald Trump's frustration with Vladimir Putin appears to be growing and Russian strikes in Ukraine are intensifying, notes Agence France-Presse.
"A turning point is coming" in the war in Ukraine, the Republican senator said last night on CBS television, after the US president said last week that he would make a "major statement" on Russia today, BTA reported.