President Donald Trump is downplaying the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range weapons as Kyiv awaits an injection of U.S. weaponry that it hopes will help it beat back an intensifying Russian air offensive.

Russia continued its nightly bombardment of Ukrainian cities overnight into Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would send military equipment to Kyiv.

President Donald Trump may have expected a Russian shudder of fear to greet his threat of “very severe tariffs” on the country if it didn’t agree a ceasefire in Ukraine.