Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 4, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUkraine's drone strikes on Russian bombers raise escalation risks, warns Trump's envoy. The attacks targeted strategic airfields deep in Russia.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy said the risk of escalation from the war in Ukraine was "going way up" after Ukrainian forces used drones to strike nuclear-capable bombers at several airbases deep inside Russia.
Ukraine said it attacked airfields in Siberia and Russia's far north over the weekend, striking targets up to 4,300 km (2,670 miles) from the front lines of the conflict.
"I'm telling you, the risk levels are going way up - I mean, what happened this weekend," Trump's envoy, Keith Kellogg, told Fox News.
"People have to understand in the national security space: when 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. You're not sure."
Russia and the United States together hold about 88% of all nuclear weapons.
Each power has three main ways of attacking with nuclear warheads, known as the nuclear triad: strategic bombers, land-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Kellogg said the damage to the Russian bombers at the weekend was less important than the psychological impact on Russia and that he was particularly concerned by unconfirmed reports of a Ukrainian attack on a naval base in northern Russia.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that Trump had not been informed in advance of Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia's bombers.
Russia and Ukraine held talks in Istanbul on Monday but made little headway towards ending the war that has raged since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine more than three years ago.
Kellogg said Ukraine had come up with a "very reasonable position" but Russia had come with a "very maximalist position", and that the aim now was to "try to bridge that".
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Trump's envoy, Keith Kellogg, stated that the risk levels are 'going way up' following Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian bombers.
Kellogg emphasized that attacking an opponent's nuclear triad is a significant escalation, impacting national security and increasing risk levels.
Russia and Ukraine held talks in Istanbul but made little progress towards ending the ongoing conflict.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mentioned that Trump was not informed in advance about Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia's bombers.
Kellogg noted that Ukraine had a 'very reasonable position', while Russia's stance was described as 'very maximalist', indicating a significant gap in negotiations.
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