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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned leaders in Moscow that they should familiarize themselves with their nearest bomb shelter in an ominous warning Thursday.
Zelenskyy made the comment in an interview with Axios following his Wednesday address to the United Nations General Assembly. The Ukrainian leader says he received express permission from President Donald Trump to strike energy and infrastructure targets within Russia.
He also said he had requested that the U.S. supply Ukraine with a weapons system that he claimed would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, though he declined to name the weapon.
“They have to know where the bomb shelters are,” Zelenskyy said of Kremlin leaders. “They need it. If they will not stop the war, they will need it in any case.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Krelmin leaders that they should find their nearest bomb shelter. (Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“They have to know that we in Ukraine, each day, we will answer. If they attack us, we will answer them,” he added.
Zelenskyy remained vague when speaking about the weapons system he had requested from the U.S.
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“President Trump knows, I told him yesterday what we need, one thing,” Zelenskyy told the outlet.
“We need it, but it doesn’t mean that we will use it. Because if we’ll have it, I think it’s additional pressure on Putin to sit and speak,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump at the United Nations earlier this week. (Ukranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Trump this week shocked the international community when he flipped his position on the war in Ukraine and said he thinks Kyiv could re-take all of its occupied land that was seized by Russia.
“I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form,” he said Tuesday on social media.
“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original borders from where this war started, is very much an option,” Trump added. “Why not?”
Trump argued this week that Ukraine can win its war against Russia. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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This position is a stark reversal from where he stood when he first re-entered office and, in an infamous February Oval Office meeting told Zelenskyy he “[didn’t] have the cards” to take on Russia, and repeatedly suggested Kyiv would need to make significant concessions to end the war.
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report