Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, said over the weekend that he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already lost his war with neighboring Ukraine.
While appearing on the “This Week” program on ABC, Blinken said he is confident that Ukraine will ultimately prevail in the war. He told the program’s host, Jonathan Karl:
“The reason that I remain very confident in Ukraine’s ultimate success, which is that they’re fighting for their country, for their future, for their freedom, the Russians are not. And keep in mind, Putin has already lost in what he was trying to achieve.
“He was trying to erase Ukraine from the map and its independence, subsume it into Russia. That has already been a failure.”
Blinken traveled to Ukraine as part of a surprise visit he made last week. During that trip, Blinken announced that the U.S. would be sending another $1 billion of aid to Ukraine to help it with its war defense efforts.
That support will include resources that Blinken said would “build a force for the future, a military force of the future, that is capable of deterring future aggression, and if necessary, defending and defeating it.”
This comes at a time when there is a lot of chatter in Washington about whether the U.S. should continue to send more and more military aid to Ukraine. Many public calls to that end have come from Republican lawmakers, and some Democrats as well.
In addition, the topic has been front and center for Republican presidential nominees, some of which have said they would immediately cut off aid to Ukraine if they were to win the 2024 election. That includes former President Donald Trump, who has been one of the most outspoken people against sending continued aid to Ukraine.
One of the biggest concerns of critics is that Ukraine might be using U.S. military aid in offensive efforts against Russia, including attacks that are taking place on Russian soil.
Blinken was asked specifically about that, and said America hasn’t “encouraged” or “enabled” the use of any weapons outside of Ukraine’s own territory. He did say that Russia is “attacking indiscriminately” throughout Ukraine.
During his appearance on ABC over the weekend, Blinken further added that he hasn’t seen any “indication” that the Russian president would want to engage in “meaningful diplomacy” that would end the war.
As he said:
“It takes two to tango, and thus far, we see no indication that Vladimir Putin has any interest in meaningful diplomacy. If he does, I think the Ukrainians will be the first to engage, and we’ll be right behind them.
“Everyone wants this war to end, but it has [to be] on just terms and on durable terms that reflect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The U.S. tried to engage China in the past to broker a potential deal between Russia and Ukraine, but Russia apparently turned down those overtures.
