Leavitt made this comment on Russia's largest attack this year on Ukrainian energy infrastructure carried out on the night from Monday to Tuesday, despite the agreement between Trump and Vladimir Putin to halt the attacks for a week.
What were Donald Trump's reactions to Russia's attacks?
When will talks start in Abu Dhabi?
How many drones were used in Russia's latest attack?
Which cities were affected by Russia's attacks?
— I talked to the president about this this morning and his reaction was, unfortunately, not surprising. These two countries have been fighting a very brutal war for several years, a war that would never have started if the president was still in office, the spokeswoman said.
However, she noted that Trump is “aggressively pursuing diplomacy” and announced that on Wednesday, presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will take part in the next round of talks with the US and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi.
— I would like to point out that the trilogues that took place last week are historic. Never before have these three countries been able to come to the negotiating table. Special Envoy Jared Kushner and President Trump have made the impossible possible for Middle East peace, and I know they want to do the same for the Russia-Ukraine war, she added.
Russian attack on Ukrainian energy facilities
According to the Ukrainian authorities, Russia's latest attack was the largest since the beginning of the year, using 450 drones and over 60 missiles. The shelling affected, among others, Kiev, Kharkov and Dnieper, causing power and heating outages during 20-degree frosts.
On Monday, President Donald Trump repeated that he had received assurances from Putin that he would refrain from attacking Ukrainian cities for a week due to the frost in Ukraine. Trump announced an agreement on the matter for the first time on Thursday. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that Russia had agreed to refrain from carrying out attacks until February 1.
