President Donald Trump said he was "not happy" but "not surprised" about Russia's recent air strikes on Ukraine, the White House said.
"He was not surprised by this news, but he was not happy," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing.
Leavitt also pointed out that even though the President expects an end to the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "must want it to end as well."
The strikes were the second-largest since the start of the war and killed at least 19 people, among them four children, officials said.
The White House press secretary also stated that the president plans to "make some additional statements on this later," but did not give more information. These remarks are made in the middle of negotiations, as Russia and America continue to work to end the conflict, with both sides having had high-profile truce talks in Alaska recently.
On Thursday, Russia struck Ukrainian military locations with long-range strikes using different weapons, including hypersonic air-launched Kinzhal missiles, Moscow's Defense Ministry reported, according to RT.
The ministry asserted that the strikes targeted several weapons plants and airbases, corroborating previous reports of strikes emanating from Kiev. The armed forces of Ukraine reported that they shot down the majority of the missiles and drones but acknowledged that Russian fire landed successfully at 13 places, with further damage caused by the debris of intercepted weaponry, RT added.
Footage from what appears to be CCTV has emerged online, with two missiles hitting one spot in the center of Kyiv. RT reported sources indicating that the location is the building of defense firm Ukrspecsystems on Zhilyanskaya Street, which was police cordoned off on Thursday.
Igor Zinkevich, a city council member in Lviv, said that Russia also attacked a Kyiv factory owned by the Turkish defence company Bayraktar, its fourth such attack in six months.
Last week, Russia's Federal Security Service said that it carried out an operation with the military against Ukraine's Sapsan ballistic missile project, allegedly infiltrating the project and causing "colossal" damage via subsequent attacks, RT reported.
Moscow has always blamed Western nations for turning Ukraine into a proxy by providing weapons and finances, and contending that Kiev's war effort is non-viable and purely for foreign, not Ukrainian, interests.
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