President Donald Trump “was not happy” about Russian attacks on Ukraine with missiles and drones on Thursday (August 28, 2025) and planned to talk more about the subject later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Since Mr. 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.

“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,” Ms. Leavitt said of Mr. Trump.

She told reporters that Mr. Trump will make an additional statement on the situation later on Thursday (August 28, 2025).

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

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

Mr. 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-Zelenskyy meeting is forthcoming as of yet. Mr. Trump asked on Monday why Putin is reluctant to meet Zelenskyy.