The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was not sure of the veracity of a CNN article that reported U.S. President Donald Trump had once threatened to bomb Moscow to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine.

CNN's report cited audio recordings of Trump telling a private gathering of donors amid his pre-election campaign in 2024 that he had once warned Putin that he would "bomb the sh*t out of Moscow" if Russia attacked Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were "many fakes" and he was unsure if the report was true.

CNN said that Trump also said he had delivered a similar warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping over a potential invasion of Taiwan, telling him that the United States would bomb Beijing in response.