Putin is lying about Ukraine and does not want real peace – US Secretary of State
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is continuing to lie when he claims that the Ukrainian people have no identity of their own, and that Putin is uninterested in true peace.
"Putin continues to claim, falsely, that Ukraine is not a real state. He continues to deny that the Ukrainian people have their own identity. In Putin’s eyes, the Ukrainian people – like Ukraine itself – do not exist," Blinken said at the meeting of the UN Security Council.
He recalled that Ukraine has repeatedly stated that diplomacy is the only way to end this war, and that it is ready to negotiate. But the head of the Kremlin does not want this.
"Putin, on the other hand, has no interest in such a peace – recently declaring that Russia would return to the negotiating table only when Ukraine withdraws its troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia; in other words, when Ukraine withdraws from its own territory," Blinken recalled.
He stressed that the world must "support Ukraine’s call for a just and lasting peace to end Russia’s war of aggression."
Blinken also noted that some countries at the UN Security Council meeting had put forward their proposals, some of which did not mention the UN Charter or its principles, did not mention the differences between the aggressor and the victim, and called on all parties to de-escalate.
"A proposal along these lines would reward Putin’s aggression, allow him to rest, rearm, reinvade Ukraine – as he has done time and again. It would also embolden would-be aggressors everywhere around the world," Blinken concluded.
During the UN Security Council meeting, Blinken stated that he is convinced that in order to promote peace in Ukraine, Ukraine's peace initiatives must be supported and the attempts by Iran, the DPRK and China to fuel aggression must be stopped.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with a bipartisan delegation of the US Congress and told them about his Victory Plan.
Zelenskyy has said that Russia's war against Ukraine is "closer to the end" than many people think and has called on Ukraine’s allies to strengthen its forces.