The White House press secretary said President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants to see a permanent ceasefire in Ukraine and not a temporary pause in the fighting.
According to foreign media, Caroline Leavitt was speaking shortly after Vladimir Putin announced that he would order all Moscow forces to cease fighting from May 8-11, which coincides with Russia's celebrations marking its 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
"I understand that Vladimir Putin this morning offered a temporary ceasefire," she said. "The president has made it clear that he wants to see a permanent ceasefire, first to stop the killings and to stop the bloodshed," she added, A2 CNN reports.
Leavitt said Trump "remains optimistic that a deal can be reached," but added that the US president was "increasingly frustrated with the leaders of both countries," who both "need to come to the table to negotiate their way out of this situation."
Despite this, Trump said last night that he felt Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was acting "more calmly" after their meeting in St. Peter's Basilica over the weekend.
Leavitt added that the meeting between the two leaders showed that Trump "wants to be a peace-making president, as he was in his first term," adding that he "intends to do so again." (A2 Televizion)
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