UNITED STATES President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not to order air attacks on the Russian capital.

Mr Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday that the Ukrainian leader “shouldn’t target Moscow.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier on Tuesday that Mr Trump had not encouraged Mr Zelensky to carry out further strikes deeper inside Russia, including on Moscow, contrary to a report in the Financial Times.

According to a report on Tuesday in the FT, Mr Trump had discussed the possibility of sending additional Atacms missiles to Ukraine with Mr Zelensky on July 4 and also called for strikes deeper inside Russian territory.

Sources told the FT that the US president asked Mr Zelensky about the possibility of striking Moscow in the event that Washington provided Kiev with long-range weapons.

The FT said Mr Trump made it clear that he supports the idea.

The sources said Mr Trump had expressed the hope that the strikes would force the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table to find an end to the war.

According to the FT, it remains unclear whether Mr Trump will end up sending long-range weapons to Kiev.

Ms Leavitt said: “President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war.”

On Monday Mr Trump announced he would send “defensive” weapons to Ukraine and warned that he would heavily sanction Russia if Moscow did not come to a ceasefire deal with Ukraine in 50 days.

Mr Trump said that the US would impose 100 per cent secondary tariffs targeting Russia’s remaining trading partners if there was no peace deal by the deadline.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said that the US, Europe and Ukraine were working through the details of which weapons would be sent.

Russian security council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the threat as “a theatrical ultimatum” to Moscow.

Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. Some analysts suggest that this is largely in response to a Western-backed Ukrainian attack on Russian nuclear bases in May.

Ukraine has also targeted sites deep inside Russia this year with missiles provided by the US and Britain.

But Russia has continued to make gains on the battle front and has insisted that it is open to diplomacy to end the war but if that fails it is willing to achieve the aims of the “special military operation” on the battlefield.