Blinken: "Putin Has Already Failed"

Washington D.C./16.09.23/Turan:  The top U.S. diplomat said on Friday that Putin "has already failed" in what he was trying to achieve in Ukraine, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"[Putin's] objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, to subsume it into Russia.  And again, that has failed and it cannot succeed" Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a joint press conference with German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.

The two diplomats reiterated their countries' long-term support for Ukraine and discussed Kyiv's long-term ability "not only to survive but to thrive following Russia's invasion," as Blinken put it.

Baerbock echoed Blinken's remarks, saying support for Ukraine goes beyond arms deliveries to include repairing infrastructure.

When asked about Ukraine's ongoing requests for long-range missile systems that could reach deep into Russia and the West's reluctance to provide them, Baerbock said arms supplies are for Ukraine's self-defense and reclaiming territory within Ukraine.

Blinken added that where Putin's aggression settles, that is fundamentally up to Ukraine. "And we’re determined to do everything we can to help Ukraine regain territory seized from it by Russia in this aggression."

He went on to add that different systems are "constantly under review," and it’s very important to emphasize that the systems themselves are critical, but that’s not sufficient as a prism through which to look at this. Ukrainians have to be able to use them effectively, and sometimes with new, sophisticated systems, that requires training, and of course we’re engaged in that.  They need to be able to maintain them, and that doesn’t happen automatically.  And then they need to fit into a coherent military program that makes sense in helping Ukraine achieve its objectives. "So all of those factors are taken into consideration," he said.

In the meantime, Blinken added that any given system that’s discussed, including the media, is probably under active review "if it’s something the Ukrainians have asked us to look at.  And we are."

He concluded: "And the only reason we’re talking about those decisions is because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and because of the fact that, as the foreign minister alluded to and has talked about so powerfully, every single day Russian bombs, Russian rockets, Russian drones are raining down on the people of Ukraine, destroying, tearing apart innocent lives; destroying, tearing apart Ukraine’s infrastructure, its energy infrastructure, the food and grain silos, and ports that have been responsible for getting food around the world to people who need it."

Alex Raufoglu