US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Ukraine to show support amid fears of Russian aggression

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will then meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Kiev, Ukraine:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukraine’s leaders, as diplomatic efforts to deter Russia from attacking its pro-Western neighbor faltered.

After talks last week failed to assuage concerns, the White House on Tuesday warned that Russia was ready to attack Ukraine “at any time”.

This is a marked increase in threat assessment ahead of a meeting between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov scheduled in Geneva on Friday.

Hoping to show strong support ahead of the talks, the top US diplomat will pay a one-day visit to Kyiv to show support for Ukraine.

He was greeted by Ukrainian officials on an icy moonlit runway and will later meet President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Blinken traveled to Berlin on Thursday for quadrilateral talks with Britain, France and Germany aimed at seeking Western unification.

“We’re at a stage where Russia can launch an attack on Ukraine at any point at any time,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday.

“There is no way off the table,” she said, warning of an “extremely dangerous situation”.

And she said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “created this crisis”.

Moscow has repeatedly denied that an invasion was planned.

‘Diplomatic line’

In a call between the US and top Russian diplomats ahead of Blinken’s trip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had urged Blinken “not to repeat speculations about ‘Russian aggression’ ‘”.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken “emphasized the importance of continuing on a diplomatic path to de-escalate tensions”.

And one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Blinken’s goal was to see “if there was a diplomatic common ground” and a “common ground” where Russia could be persuaded to pull out of Ukraine.

With tens of thousands of Russian troops landing on the Ukrainian border, efforts have been intensified to prevent tensions from escalating into a new war in Europe.

However, at a joint press conference with a visit to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday, Lavrov said there would be no further talks until the West meets its demands for security guarantees. extensive.

These include a permanent ban on Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Washington has denied the requests.

Although the United States and its European allies do not plan to respond to a Russian attack on Ukraine with military force, economic countermeasures will be unlike any proposed. used in the past, Washington said.

The US official suggested that Russia may not be interested in a diplomatic solution.

“I think it is too early to say whether the Russian government is really interested in diplomacy, whether it is ready for serious negotiations in good faith, or whether it will use the discussions as an excuse. to assert that diplomacy does not address Moscow’s interests,” the official said.

Meanwhile, Washington warned that draft constitutional reforms in Belarus could lead to the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in the country.

A US official said Tuesday’s joint Russia-Belarusian drills announced by Minsk because of the arrival of Russian troops in the country were “beyond normal”, a US official said, and could be expected. Russia’s regular military presence with both nuclear and conventional forces.

Kyiv has been fighting a pro-Moscow insurgency in two breakaway regions bordering Russia since 2014, when the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has so far killed more than 13,000 people.

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