Exclusive: Biden tells Muir US weapons won't be used to hit Moscow, Kremlin

Lina PortmanJune 7, 2024

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(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden insisted that U.S. weapons would not be used to strike Moscow or the Kremlin after allowing Ukraine to use them in Russia during an exclusive interview with the news anchor. ABC News, David Muir, at the American Cemetery in Normandy, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Muir asked Biden if U.S.-made weapons had ever been used in Russia since he approved their use, limiting their use to areas near the Russian-occupied Kharkiv region. The president did not respond directly, but clarified that they would not be used to target the Russian capital or the seat of government.

“They are authorized for use near the border when used across the border to attack specific targets in Ukraine,” Biden told Muir of the U.S. weapons. “We do not authorize strikes 200 miles inside Russia and we do not authorize strikes against Moscow, against the Kremlin.”

Muir asked the president about Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments overnight that “providing high-precision weapons to Ukraine for strikes on Russian territory constitutes direct participation in this war.”

“Does this concern you?” » Muir asked Biden.

“I have known him for over 40 years. It has worried me for 40 years. He’s not an honest man,” Biden said. “He is a dictator and he is fighting to hold his country together while continuing this assault. We're not talking about giving them weapons to hit Moscow, to hit the Kremlin, to hit right across the border, where they're getting heavy fire from conventional weapons used by the Russians to go into Ukraine and kill Ukrainians. .”

For more on Muir's interview with President Biden, watch “World News Tonight with David Muir” on ABC at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Biden is in France to commemorate the day Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in 1944, setting off a chain of events that led to the fall of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II . Later Thursday, Biden plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the war effort.