US Secretary of State: Long-term NATO commitments show Putin he can’t survive Ukraine
British Minister Rishi Sunak; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz; the President of France, Emmanuel Macron; the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida; US President Joe Biden; the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky; the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau; the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni; European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Long-term commitments made at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week could be the most effective way to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that he cannot win his war in Ukraine, said Friday United States Secretary of State Antoine Blinken.
NATO promises ‘could be the best way to disabuse Vladimir Putin of the idea that he could somehow survive Ukraine and survive the dozens of countries that support Ukraine’ , Blinken said at a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“That’s probably the quickest way to end this war,” Blinken said. The top US diplomat predicted that Putin would try to drag out the war “indefinitely” despite the “horrendous costs to Russia itself”.
“As long as you continue to believe that it will somehow prevail, it is likely to continue. You must be disappointed by that notion. These long-term commitments to Ukraine’s security, but also towards its economic well-being, as well as humanitarian aid, are probably the best way to achieve this,” Blinken said.
“The question now is exactly where and how it ends. Basically, these decisions should be up to Ukraine, because it’s their future,” Blinken said, echoing a common refrain in the United States that it is up to Kiev to decide how and when to manage peace. negotiations with Russia.
“We haven’t seen any signs from Russia that they are really willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy and end the war they started,” he added.
What NATO countries pledged to give Kyiv: While Ukraine, as expected, did not complete the Vilnius summit as a member of the military alliance, the main NATO countries gave Kiev security guarantees and assurances that its future lies in the covenant.
A joint statement agreement by G7 countries pledges long-term investment in Ukraine’s combat forces, both to defend against Russia now and to deter attacks in the future. The deal also promised to invest in Ukraine’s economy and provide immediate “technical and financial support” for urgent needs caused by the war.
This was accompanied by assurances, in writing and in the media, from major countries that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.
Remember: The Group of Seven, or G7, is an organization of leaders from some of the world’s largest economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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