The White House said on Wednesday now is clearly not the time to scheme with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when asked about former President Donald Trump's calling on Putin to release information about Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.
"What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his connections to Vladimir Putin? There is only one and it's Donald Trump," White House spokesperson Kate Bedingfield told reporters.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 and have inflicted massive destruction on Ukrainian cities, including apartment buildings and other civilian facilities. On Wednesday, they were bombarding the outskirts of Kyiv and the besieged city of Chernihiv in the north, a day after promising to scale down operations there.
Russia says it is carrying out a "special operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbor. Western countries say Moscow's invasion was entirely unprovoked.