State Department Official Asked About Russia Continuing To Attack Ukraine Despite Trump Moving Deadline Up

During a State Department press briefing on Thursday, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott was asked about Russia's attacks on Ukraine.

Transcript

00:00Yes.

00:01Thank you very much.

00:02Nice to see you again.

00:03I have a question about the Ukrainian war.

00:06U.S. President Donald Trump cut the deadline for a ceasefire for a deal with Vladimir Putin

00:11from 50 days to 10 days warning of strong sanctions if no action is taken.

00:15I'm sorry.

00:16Could you speak up just a little bit?

00:17I'm having trouble hearing you.

00:18Yes, sorry.

00:19U.S. President Donald Trump cut the deadline for a ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin from

00:2250 days to 10 days warning of strong sanctions if no action is taken.

00:27But at the same time, we see Russia continues to capture new towns and villages almost every

00:33day, and this raises doubts about Russia's real intention.

00:37Do you think this move can lead to real peace talks, or is it just a political pressure?

00:43And what could be the consequences if Russia keeps expanding its attacks while ignoring

00:49the ceasefire deadline?

00:51MR.

00:52Well, I'm not going to preview what the President made aside.

00:53He's been clear in terms of the broad considerations he's making.

00:55He's also been clear on the timeline that he has.

00:58What I can say in terms of our transparency on how we view Russia's actions, that remains.

01:03I discussed them earlier here.

01:05The President has been clear on that.

01:06The Secretary has also been clear, talking about, well, we've seen the fact that we need

01:09to see actions, not words, and when it comes to this.

01:12The President talking about that itself when he was talking about moving the deadline, moving

01:16it forward.

01:17So ultimately, our hope is that we can get the sides to the table, that they can have conversations

01:21towards the ceasefire, that there can be conversations that lead to a long and enduring peace.

01:26Our fundamental, our driving principle here is to end the bloodshed.

01:31That remains.

01:32That continues.

01:33That's why we've seen the engagement we have seen.

01:34That's why we've seen the actions we have seen.

01:36That remains our policy.

01:37That remains our effort to try to end this conflict.