Trump threatens Putin he would 'bomb the s*** out of Moscow' in leaked audio
Donald Trump claims he told Putin he would bomb Moscow if Russia invaded Ukraine during his first time as US president.
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“With Putin I said: ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the s--- out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice’,” Donald Trump told a private gathering of fundraisers.
“And then [Putin] goes, like, ‘I don’t believe you’. But he believed me 100 per cent.”
Donald Trump revealed the threat to a group of donors before the 2024 presidential election as he campaigned for re-election last year.
The president was also heard bragging that he made similar threats to Chinese leader Xi Jinping regarding the potential invasion of Taiwan.
“He thought I was crazy,” Mr Trump said of Xi, adding “we never had a problem”.
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The leaked audio was published by CNN after it was obtained by the authors of a coming book that details the presidents return to power.
This echos previous claims from Mr Trump, including that he could have prevented the war in Ukraine if elected in 2020.
“If I were president, this war would have never happened,” he said the G7 summit in Canada in June.
Previously speaking to to the Wall Street Journal in October 2024, Trump claimed he said: “‘I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow.’
"I said, ‘We’re friends. I don’t want to do it, but I have no choice’. He goes, ‘No way’. I said, ‘Way’.”
This comes as Trump has said the US will send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after air defence shipments to the war-torn country were paused.
Speaking at the White House alongside a US and Israeli delegation, Trump said he was "not happy" with Russia's Vladimir Putin and that Ukraine was "getting hit very hard".
"We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to – they have to be able to defend themselves," he said.
"They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons.
"Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard."
On Monday, the Pentagon said it will send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine at the request of Trump, reversing a Pentagon decision a week ago to pause air defence shipments which were already heading to the Ukrainian military.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the weapons would "ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure that the killing stops".
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said at the time that the decision to pause shipments to Ukraine was made "to put America’s interests first".
Among the armaments reported to have been placed on pause last week were Patriot air defence missiles and precision artillery shells.
Trump's U-turn comes after days of relentless Russian drone and missile barrages on Ukrainian cities, including the country's capital Kyiv.