Trump was not given prior notice of Ukraine drone attack on Russia: White House
'The president does not want to see this war prolonged. He wants the fighting to stop,' says spokeswoman
The White House
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump was not notified before Ukraine carried out an expansive drone assault on Russia that destroyed key components of the Kremlin's nuclear triad, the White House said Tuesday.
The denial comes after Kyiv claimed it destroyed more than 40 strategic bomber jets in the operation on Sunday, which involved drone strikes in multiple parts of Russia, including, for the first time, far-flung Siberia.
Asked if Trump approves of the attack, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, "I would like to let the president speak on that himself."
"The president does not want to see this war prolonged. He wants the fighting to stop. He wants people to stop dying, and he wants this to be solved at the negotiating table," she said. "This is a war very far away, but this president truly cares about peace, and that's what he wants to see."
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) conducted a “large-scale special operation,” codenamed Spider Web, to destroy Russian bombers, Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform reported, citing sources in the agency.
The report said SBU drones targeted planes used by Moscow in attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The attack targeted four airfields at once, including Olenya, Ivanovo, Dyagilevo and Belaya, according to the report.
The Belaya airbase is in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, whose administrative center is more than 4,300 kilometers (2,670 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
