WASHINGTON, March 17. /TASS/. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has put the blame for unleashing hostilities in Ukraine on the previous US administration led by President Joe Biden.

"I think the previous administration is the reason this war began," she said, commenting on the situation around Ukraine. "As President [Donald] Trump often says this war would have never started if he were still in office. It only started because of the incompetence and the weakness of the previous administration."

"President Trump is very proud of the progress that he and his team have made in such a short amount of time, and hopefully tomorrow, that progress will move forward," she said referring to Washington’s contacts with Moscow and Kiev on settling the conflict in Ukraine. She shared the view that the current results of the Ukrainian settlement talks are literally "an indictment of the previous administration's foreign policy stance" for its categorical refusal from any contacts with Russia.

"Hopefully tomorrow (on March 18 - TASS), that progress will move forward," she said ahead of Trump’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.