'Can you hit deep inside Russia?': Trump asks Zelenskyy after provocative exchange with Putin

In a dramatic shift from his earlier hands-off rhetoric, US President Donald Trump privately urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to step up strikes inside Russian territory, even asking him directly if Ukraine could hit Moscow and St. Petersburg, if given the right weapons, reported the Financial Times. ‘Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? . . . Can you hit St Petersburg too?’. Trump asked during a July 4 call with Zelenskyy, FT reported, citing two people briefed on the conversation. Zelenskyy reportedly replied, ‘Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.’ The provocative exchange followed a tense call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin just a day earlier, which the US president later described as “bad,”.