White House says Trump not happy with Russia strike on Ukraine, to make statement later

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump “was not happy” about Russian attacks on Ukraine with missiles and drones on Thursday and planned to talk more about the subject later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Since Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska nearly two weeks ago, little progress has been made toward a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine despite Trump’s attempts to negotiate a halt in the fighting.

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Overnight attacks on Ukraine by Russia killed at least 15 people and damaged buildings.

“He was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised. These are two countries that have been at war for a very long time,” Leavitt said of Trump.

She told reporters that Trump will make an additional statement on the situation later on Thursday.

Leavitt said the Russian attacks had been deadly and that Ukrainian attacks had done significant damage in August to Russian oil refineries.

She said Trump wants the war to end but that “perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves.”

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Tuesday that plans to meet Ukrainian representatives this week in New York. The meeting is expected to take place on Friday.

Trump has been pushing for Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet and then he would join them for a three-way meeting to discuss ending the war.

But no such Putin-Zelenskiy meeting is forthcoming as of yet. Trump, asked on Monday why Putin is reluctant to meet Zelenskiy, said Putin simply does not like him.