U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter NATO airspace, shortly after NATO nations condemned Moscow for violating Estonian airspace.
"Yes, I do," Trump told reporters when asked about whether he would support the move.
Trump said he plans to call Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to urge him to stop purchasing Russian oil, part of a broader push to pressure NATO allies to cut energy ties with Moscow.
"He's a friend of mine. I have not spoken to him, but I have a feeling if I did, he might stop, and I think I'll be doing that," Trump said.
Trump made the comments to reporters before a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
After the meeting, the Ukrainian leader called for pressure to be ramped up on Russia as he tries to persuade the U.S. president to swing more firmly behind Kyiv's war effort.
Zelensky told reporters as he sat beside Trump at the start of the meeting that he had "good news" to share from the battlefield where Kyiv's forces have been locked in fierce fighting with Russia for over three and a half years.
"We need more pressure, more sanctions now with (the) United States, first of all (and) Europe," he said in opening remarks, adding that he wanted to discuss Trump's call for all remaining European powers to stop buying Russian energy altogether.
Trump threatened economic measures against Russia in his address to the UN General Assembly earlier, but said he wanted U.S. allies to take the same steps and derided some European powers for continuing to buy Russian energy despite the war.
Trump described his meeting with Zelensky as an "important" one on a busy day of talks.
The Ukrainian leader told reporters he wanted to discuss U.S. involvement in Western security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a future post-war settlement during their talks.
He was also expected to discuss how to improve Ukraine's air defenses and to set up a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine as part of Trump's peace effort, a source in Ukraine's delegation told Reuters ahead of the talks.
Trump has pushed the idea of a meeting between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly with him also taking part, as a way to make progress in his bid to end the war launched by Russia in February 2022.
Moscow has said no such meeting is planned and that the agenda would have to be well prepared for it to happen. Kyiv has pointed to that as proof that Russia is not willing to deviate from its maximalist aims and is obstructing Trump's efforts.
Ukraine adopts new pragmatism after disappointments
Kyiv's hopes of winning tough new U.S. sanctions on Russia have been fading. A new pragmatism in Ukraine has made Zelensky's latest talks with Trump less fraught than earlier meetings, with lessons learned from February's Oval Office bust-up.
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A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea
(Photo: AFP PHOTO / SOURCE / BYLINE)
Though Kyiv expects no new direct U.S. military aid, its war effort relies heavily on U.S. intelligence sharing and a new mechanism that allows Europe to buy U.S. weapons such as air defenses.
That makes preserving the relationship with Trump vital for Kyiv, even though Ukrainians have been disappointed as he has reoriented policy away from the unambiguous military and diplomatic support Kyiv received from former president Joe Biden.
Ukrainians were shocked when Trump gave red carpet treatment to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, and believe Moscow will not stop its war unless it faces heavy external pressure, including sanctions.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose punitive economic measures on Russia, but has not followed through on them as of yet, in what U.S. officials have said is an effort to give the push for peace a chance of succeeding.
The Ukrainian delegation has so far used its trip to the UN to show how it not only needs military and political assistance from its allies, but that it also has important experience, knowledge and resources to offer its allies.
Ukraine's foreign minister said on Monday that Kyiv would be ready to integrate its battle-hardened air defense network into those of its Western neighbours to assist after NATO accused Russia of violating its airspace in Estonia and Poland.
Estonia said last week that three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace and remained there for 12 minutes, while Poland denounced Russia for more than a dozen drones that it said entered its airspace.
Russia has accused the West of hysteria and denied that its jets entered Estonian airspace.