Trump asked Zelenskiy if it was possible to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg, but did not encourage it – White House

The White House confirmed that on July 4, US President Donald Trump asked his Ukrainian colleague Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the possibility of strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg, but "not encouraging further killing." This was reported by the administration's spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in response to the Financial Times article in the comments to the American magazine Newsweek.

The official stated that the FT allegedly takes words out of context to get clicks (views).

"President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He's working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war," Leavitt said.

UPDATED. Trump stated that Zelenskyy should not bomb Moscow.

Earlier FT published an article in which two informed interlocutors claimed that during a call on July 4, Trump asked Zelenskyy if Ukraine could hit military targets deep in Russia if it was provided with the appropriate weapons.

According to the interlocutors, the US president said to his counterpart: "Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow?... Can you hit St. Petersburg too?"

To which, according to the interlocutors, Zelenskyy replied: "Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons."

The US leader made it clear that he supports this idea, describing the strategy toward Russia as designed to "make them [the Russians] feel pain" and force the Kremlin to the negotiating table, the FT's interlocutors said.

• Another American publication, The Washington Post, published similar data with reference to its source. He also claimed that Trump had considered sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but decided to postpone the issue in case, if additional leverage is needed to put pressure on dictator Putin.
• The range of the Tomahawk, depending on the modification, is from 450 (anti-ship version) to 2500 kilometers. The distance from the Ukrainian border to Moscow is over 400 kilometers.
• At the end of June, the head of the OP, Yermak, was asked whether the Ukrainian ballistic missile Sapsan (with a range of up to 500 km) would be able to reach Moscow. He replied that "We will be able to surprise our enemies many more times".