Trump envoy to Ukraine says risk of escalation rising after strikes - Reuters

Published 04/06/2025, 10:48
© Reuters

Investing.com - The risk of escalation in the war in Ukraine has gone "way up" following a Ukrainian drone strike on nuclear-capable bombers at airbases in Russia, Reuters reported, citing a Fox News interview with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine.

Kyiv has said that it carried out attacks on airfields in Siberia and elsewhere in Russia, hitting targets thousands of kilometers from the conflict. Officials at Ukraine’s main security and intelligence agency quoted by the Wall Street Journal said that the strikes, dubbed "Spider’s Web", had been in planning for a year and a half.

Speaking to Fox News, Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, reportedly said the "risk levels are going way up" in the wake of the strikes over the weekend.

"[W]hen you attack an opponent’s part of their national survival system, which is their triad, the nuclear triad, that means your risk level goes up because you don’t know what the other side is going to do," Kellogg said.

Both the U.S. and Russia have three major forms -- known commonly as a triad -- of attacking with nuclear warheads. These include land-launched ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and strategic bombers.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt noted this week that the Trump administration was not given advance warning about the strike.

Kellogg added that he was particularly concerned by the psychological impact of the Ukrainian strikes on Russia, as well as unconfirmed reports of attacks on a Russian naval base.

Russia and Ukraine have held recent talks over possibly ending the multi-year conflict, although the negotiations have appeared to so far lead to little progress. Kellogg said the aim was now to attempt to "bridge" a gap between Ukrainian demands and a "very maximalist position" taken by Russia.

(Reuters contributed reporting.)

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