“He’ll keep urging the negotiations forward, urging compromise, with the goal of getting all these national security issues fully funded as we need. They’re all urgent, they’re all important,” Kirby told reporters on board Air Force One.

Kirby added that the talks come at a crucial time due to the situation in Ukraine.

“As winter approaches, we’re seeing increased missile and drone attacks by the Russian armed forces against civilian infrastructure. We expect that that will continue, particularly against energy infrastructure, and as the Russian forces continue to try to take offensive action against hte Ukrainians all along that front, but particularly in the east,” he said.