Blinken: Russia ‘failing’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared Monday that Russia is “failing” in its efforts to take over Ukraine and strip away its independence.
Just hours after a covert meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Blinken gave the grim assessment of Russian forces in their third month of the war against the Eastern European country.
“When it comes to Russia’s war aims, Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding,” Blinken told reporters in Poland Monday. “Russia has sought as its principal aim to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed.
“We don’t know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene,” said Blinken, who pledged that the US will reopen its embassy in Ukraine and give the country more than $300 million in military aid.
The US said Monday that it has approved the sale of $165 million in older Soviet-bloc ammunition to Ukraine to help in its defense against Russia.
The White House is expected to seek authorization from Congress this week for additional funding for Ukraine. Press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the next aid package will seek to secure longerterm assistance.
Meanwhile, a UK official estimated Monday that 15,000 Russian personnel have been killed since the start of the war. Snejana Farberov and Evan Simko-Bednarski