The US president was speaking to reporters during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday afternoon in New York City
Donald Trump has told reporters that NATO should shoot down Russian planes if they enter allied airspace.
The astonishing words came as the US president sat down with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday for their meeting in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly. When then asked whether the US would support in shooting down Russian aircraft, he replied that it “depends on the circumstances”.
Trump called his Ukrainian counterpart “a great man” who is “putting up one hell of a fight”. He went on: “We have great respect for the fight Ukraine is putting up, it’s pretty amazing actually.”
The 79-year-old also managed to ask Zelenskyy about successes on the Ukrainian battlefield. He said: “Would you like to say how you are doing on the battlefield?”
Trump went on, calling the Ukrainians “very brave” and adding: “I mean look, they’re fighting and this is a war going on three and a half years,” he tells reporters in New York. People thought it would be over quickly because Russia is a big military power, and Ukraine, I tell you, they are good fighters.”
The US president’s tone towards Zelenskyy was in stark contract to the petulant manner in which he spoke to the latter in the Oval House earlier this year. Back then, Trump claimed Zelenskyy was “not ready for peace” before being turfed out of the White House.
Trump’s response today comes after Estonia said last week that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before NATO Italian fighter jets escorted them away. NATO has since warned Russia that “we will defend ourselves” using “all necessary military tools”.
“We do not want to see a continuation of this dangerous behaviour from Russia, and we stand ready to defend every inch of NATO territory,” said NATO chief Mark Rutte said. He added: “If necessary, we will shoot down a fighter jet.”
While Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his country will be ready to shoot down down any Russian fighter jets if they violate its territory after Kremlin drones entered his country’s airspace earlier this month. “I want to be very clear. We will make a decision to shoot down flying objects without discussion when they violate our territory and fly over Poland. There is no room for debate here,” he told reporters on Monday.
The Russian drones were eventually shot down by Poland, with the US president responding to the news via a Truth Social post: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace? Here we go!”
Elsewhere in the UN General Assembly meeting, Trump called the threat of nuclear weapons the “most serious danger to our planet today”. He said: “Just as I did in my first term, I’ve made containing these threats a top priority, starting with the nation of Iran. My position is very simple: the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never be allowed to possess the most dangerous weapon.”
However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has since claimed his country does not need nuclear weapons and has no intention of producing them. He also said that Iran will not give in to pressure over uranium enrichment.