President Biden tells ABC's David Muir that US weapons won't be used to hit Moscow, Kremlin

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 1 minute read

President Joe Biden insisted US weapons would not be used to strike Moscow or the Kremlin after allowing Ukraine to use them in Russia during an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor David Muir , at the American cemetery in Normandy, on the occasion of 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 made clear that they would not be allowed to 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 on Moscow, on the Kremlin.”

Muir asked the president about 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've known him for over 40 years. He's worried me for 40 years. He's not an honest man,” Biden said. “He's a dictator, and he's struggling 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 – just the other side from the border, where they receive heavy fire from conventional weapons used by the Russians to enter Ukraine and kill Ukrainians.

For more on Muir's interview with President Biden, watch ABC's “World News Tonight with David Muir” 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.