KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that the United States and its allies should not support a ceasefire or peace talks to end the war in Ukraine until Kiev gains strength and can negotiate on its own terms.
As an expected counter-offensive by Ukraine appeared to be taking shape, Blinken said heeding the demands of Russia and others, including China, after negotiations would now result in a false “Potemkin peace” that would safeguard neither Ukraine’s sovereignty nor European security would strengthen.
“We believe that the prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy and genuine peace is a stronger Ukraine, capable of deterring and defending against future aggression,” Blinken said in a speech in Finland, which recently became NATO’s newest member has become and has a long border with Russia.
His use of the term “Potemkin” referred to the brightly painted village facades that Russian minister Grigory Potemkin allegedly had built in the 18th century to give the Russian Empress an illusion of prosperity.
Blinken reiterated the US view that “a truce that simply freezes current lines” and allows Russian President Vladimir Putin to “consolidate control of the territory he has conquered, rest, rearm, and attack again – that.” is no truce. just and lasting peace.”
Allowing Moscow to keep a fifth of the Ukrainian territory it occupies would send the wrong signal to Russia and “other potential aggressors around the world,” according to Blinken, implying that a ceasefire should not be agreed until both the case is Ukraine is pushing back Russia or Russia is withdrawing its troops.
Blinken’s position is similar to that of Ukrainian officials, including his statement that Russia must pay for part of Ukraine’s reconstruction and be held responsible for its neighbor’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
After months of battlefield stalemate along a 1,100-kilometer front line, Ukrainian officials have been giving confusing signals about whether a counter-offensive, relying heavily on recently deployed modern Western weapons and training, is imminent or already underway.
Some have suggested that the campaign will not be a barrage of simultaneous attacks across the front lines, but rather a series of more targeted, limited attacks, first weakening Russia’s supply lines and infrastructure, and then with greater intensity at broader targets are to be expanded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke again on Friday.
“It’s not a movie,” he told reporters in Kiev. “It’s hard to say how you’ll view the counteroffensive. The main thing here is that Russia sees it. And not only see, but feel. In particular, we are talking about the troops that occupied our territories. The liberation of our territories – that is the result of our counter-offensive. When you see this, you will understand that it has started.”
Zelenskyy said his goal is to drive Russian forces out of the four territories the country partially occupied and illegally annexed last fall, and the Crimean peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally seized in 2014.
Putin has said two of his goals in invading Ukraine are to improve Russia’s security and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, but the Kiev government has applied to join the alliance, and Sweden hopes to join in July. That would surround Russia with NATO countries in the Baltic Sea.
Blinken described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a disastrous strategic failure by Moscow that strengthened NATO, the European Union and Ukraine. Russia has become more isolated, he said, tied to China as a junior partner in a relationship that increasingly angers Beijing, and unable to use energy as a political tool in countries it once considered its property or satellites .
For its part, Russia wants all talks to focus on Ukraine’s application to join NATO.
“Of course, this (issue) will be one of the biggest annoyances and potential problems for many, many years to come,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
Blinken said Washington is ready to support other countries’ peace efforts, including those of China and Brazil, but that any peace deal must uphold the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
China, which is neutral and wants to act as a mediator but has politically backed Moscow, on Friday urged countries to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. The United States is a leading Western ally and arms supplier to Kiev.
In Kiev, Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted all 15 incoming cruise missiles and 21 attack drones late Thursday and early Friday in the sixth airstrike in a few days, Ukraine’s chief of staff Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.
The Ukrainian capital was simultaneously attacked from different directions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea region, senior Kiev official Serhii Popko wrote on Telegram.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, a 68-year-old man and an 11-year-old child were injured in the attack, which saw falling debris damaging private homes, outbuildings and cars.
Elsewhere on Friday, multiple explosions occurred at the Azov seaport of Berdyansk in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia region, one of four provinces illegally annexed by Russia. Russian-appointed officials blamed Ukraine for the rocket attacks and said nine people were injured. Videos posted on social media appear to show smoke billowing from the port area. Ukrainian officials admitted their forces were responsible and claimed Russian ships were evacuating the port.
Moscow-appointed governor of occupied Ukraine’s Donetsk province, Denis Pushilin, claimed Friday that Ukrainian attacks killed three people and wounded four, including a three-year-old girl.
In other developments, Russia’s border regions came under criticism again on Friday. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said one of the top targets of cross-border shelling, Russia’s Belgorod region, had been bombarded with artillery shells and drone strikes in several villages. At least two women died in a car, several people were injured and homes, cars, power lines and farm equipment were damaged, he said on Telegram.
The Legion of Freedom of Russia, one of the groups that has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Belgorod, blamed the Russian military for the deaths. The group claimed that the Russian army mistakenly assumed the car belonged to the paramilitary group. Thousands of people were evacuated from the region and many roads were closed.
Governor Roman Starovoit reported that air defense systems shot down several Ukrainian drones in Russia’s southern Kursk region. In Russia’s Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said Ukrainian forces shelled two villages with no casualties.
Two drones also attacked power plants in Russia’s western Smolensk region, which borders Belarus, officials said.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said the incursions could be a Ukrainian strategy to disperse Russian forces ahead of a counteroffensive.
“Russian commanders now face an acute dilemma of whether to (strengthen) defenses in Russia’s border regions or to strengthen their lines in occupied Ukraine,” the ministry said.
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Matthew Lee reported from Oslo, Norway. Karl Ritter contributed from Stockholm and Andrew Katell from New York.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine