KRAKOW, Poland — The United States underscored its message on the Ukraine war on Monday, saying its goal is not only to deter Russia’s invasion but to weaken Russia so it can’t do it. such military aggression anywhere.
The purpose has been clearly stated by the highest-ranking Biden administration delegation to visit Ukraine since the war began. It reflects an incentivized intention to counter Russia by giving more and powerful hands for the Ukrainianswho fought Russian forces with unexpected tenacity, took away the Kremlin’s resources and shook President Vladimir Putin’s hopes of a quick victory.
The US delegation also announced that the US would reopen its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv – another signal that portrays Russia as moving towards defeat. The embassy, which closed before the February 24 invasion, will be led by a newly appointed ambassador.
The visit to the US itself, led by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, was completed early Monday and looks like an act of risk to Russia, which is seeking to subdue Ukraine by force for more than two months. Russia has asked the United States and its NATO allies give up providing advanced weapons for the Ukrainian army.
Although the trip was supposed to be secret, leaked word, and Russia fired rockets at at least five Ukrainian train stations hours after the guests finished talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and then traveled by rail to Poland, which could take 11 hours. . It is unclear if they were in Ukraine during any part of those attacks or if Russia targeted them.
Ukraine’s railways and other infrastructure play an important role in transporting Western-supplied weapons and aid to combat zones in the former Soviet republic, which Putin said that he did not consider a real nation.
Speaking in Poland after the trip, Mr. Austin said that Russia had suffered significant military losses so far, including “a lot of their own soldiers”. He said the Pentagon is working to ensure that Russia cannot “replicate that capability very quickly”.
Mr. Austin and Mr. Blinken planned to hold detailed discussions on what support Ukraine would need to gain the upper hand at a meeting with allies on Tuesday in Germany.
“We want to see Russia so weakened that it can’t do the things it did when it invaded Ukraine,” Austin said.
The United States has agreed to supply not only advanced American-made weapons to Ukraine, but also New ammunition made for Soviet-designed weapons, as Ukrainian forces still use a variety of weapons dating back to that time. On Monday, the US State Department said the United States was providing Ukraine with $165 million in artillery, rockets and grenades compatible with Soviet-designed weapons.
Mr. Blinken, who said Russia had been thwarted in its goal of destroying the Ukrainian state, told reporters he expected the US Embassy in Kyiv to reopen in the next few weeks. The administration has nominated Bridget Brink, the current US ambassador to Slovakia, as its new special envoy to Ukraine.
“Russia is failing,” Mr. Blinken said. “Ukraine is succeeding.”
On Monday, there were signs that Russia viewed the visit as a provocation aimed at escalating the conflict. In addition to missile attacks on Ukraine’s railways, Russian attacks in the east have knocked out electricity in the entire Luhansk province, leaving tens of thousands of people without power, local government officials said. said.
Elsewhere, an Orthodox Easter has broken in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Russia continues to shell and expand its devastation. And on the other side of the country, explosions rocked Transnistria, a Russia-aligned breakaway region with Moldova that borders Ukraine. Hundreds of Russian troops are deployed in Transnistria, and Ukrainian defense officials accuse Russia of causing the explosion as a pretext to invade Ukraine from that direction.
Other developments on Monday suggest further escalation. Russia says it is expelling 40 German diplomats in response to Germany’s expulsion of Russians. And in Bryansk, a Russian military logistics hub less than 100 miles from the Ukrainian border, massive fires of mysterious origin engulfed oil storage facilities.
Russia’s original goal of conquering Ukraine by besieging the capital and bombarding other major cities was thwarted by flawed logistics, poor morale, and fierce resistance that forced Russia to withdraw. retreat. In the new phase of the war, the Russians have focused their attacks on ensuring the security of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
Several Biden administration officials said Mr. Austin and Mr. Blinken’s message was in part aimed at helping Mr. Zelensky strike as hard as possible for what they expect to be some kind of ceasefire negotiation in the coming months. .
But the message could also reinforce Putin’s assertion that the Ukraine war is really about the future of Russia, which sees Ukraine’s pro-Western neighbor as a direct threat. And by treating America’s goal as a weakened Russia, the administration has more clearly stated the Russian leader’s determination to rein in power.
Mr. Zelensky has recently been bolder when he said that Western nations are now providing the heavy weapons he is looking for. However, he was also forthright in his assessment of the dire military situation for the besieged Ukrainian army inside a steel plant in Mariupol, the southeastern port city besieged by Russia that has become a symbol for the Juggernaut of war.
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Zelensky said the Ukrainian army had made several concessions to territory during the fighting in the east of the country but also recaptured areas.
Russo-Ukrainian War: Main developments
The US position is bolder. Speak after a important visit to KyivDefense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said that the United States want Russia to be “weakened” and failed to rebuild the military after numerous losses in Ukraine, reflecting the increasingly encouraged approach of the Biden administration.
“This is the situation in the eastern regions every day,” he said. “We can give part of the territory, but at night we bring it back.”
He said that the Ukrainian Army has demonstrated the ability to repel Russian forces. “I want to give you an example of Kyiv,” he said. “We have liberated the territory, we have abolished the territory.”
Zelensky also firmly affirmed that a victory in the east was achieved, saying that this was very important for Ukraine’s future. “Everything they try to break, we’ll bring it back,” he said.
The NATO alliance has said it will not send troops to fight Russia, which could further escalate Europe’s worst armed conflict since World War Two. NATO also rejected Zelensky’s proposal to impose a no-fly zone on his country, which is not a NATO member.
But Mr Zelensky’s leadership, and the successful use of NATO-supplied weapons by his armed forces against the Russians, have further cemented his stature in the West, where he is widely regarded. is the courageous protagonist who resists Putin’s bullying.
The Russian president, who has shown contempt for Mr. Zelensky, seems to have ruled out any direct contact with him for the moment. However, Mr. Putin has agreed to meet with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who is scheduled to meet him on Tuesday in Moscow before traveling to Kyiv to meet Mr. Zelensky. The visits are the most active diplomatic effort to avert war by Mr. Guterres, whose calls for a ceasefire have been largely ignored so far.
Political analysts say Zelensky’s challenge to Putin could remain an acute source of irritation for the Russian leader, whose decision to go to war has not only left Russia economically isolated but also brought him some tangible victories to prove his own people.
“Even with a frozen conflict following a degree of Russian ‘success’ in the second phase of this war, Zelensky emerged from the war with a global hero, a David who staring down the Russian Goliath, running a country that Putin considers illegitimate,” said Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, a political risk advisory organization. Zelensky’s presence, Bremmer said, “is a direct threat to Putin, making the Russian president look weak.”
Marc Santora reported from Krakow, Poland, John Ismay from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Report contributed by Andrew E. Kramer from Kyiv, Ukraine; Jane Arraf from Lviv, Ukraine; Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Natalia Yermak from Kharkiv, Ukraine; Ivan Nechepurenko from Tblisi, Georgia; Cora Engelbrecht from Krakow; David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt from Washington; and Richard Pérez-Peña from New York.
