Reference News, August 24 - According to Reuters, August 23, the U.S. "Wall Street Journal" reported on August 23, citing U.S. officials that the Pentagon has secretly prevented Ukraine from using U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv's ability to use such weapons in its war against Moscow.

Reuters has not yet verified the authenticity of this report.

In recent days, U.S. President Trump publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the three-year war and his failure to facilitate a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump previously held a summit with Russian President Putin, followed by meetings with leaders of several European countries and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, but these talks did not yield significant progress. After that, Trump said on the 22nd that he was considering imposing economic sanctions on Russia again or withdrawing from the peace process.

Trump said: "I will decide what actions to take, which will be a very important decision - it could be large-scale sanctions or large-scale tariffs, or both, and we may also just walk away and tell them 'It's your own business'."

Trump had previously hoped to arrange a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, but this idea proved difficult to realize as well. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov told NBC on the 22nd that there are currently no plans for a meeting with Zelenskyy.

Lavrov told NBC: "As long as the summit agenda is properly arranged, Putin is willing to meet with Zelenskyy. But the current agenda is completely unprepared."

The "Wall Street Journal" pointed out that while the White House is trying to persuade Putin to participate in the talks, the Pentagon has established an approval process that limits Ukraine's use of U.S.-made weapons to strike inside Russia.

The report also said that Defense Secretary Hegseth has the final say on the use of such long-range weapons. (Translated by Wang Dongdong)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7542141325685031465/

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