Blinken says no Ukraine cease-fire and not using a peace deal that features Russia’s withdrawal

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Friday that there will be no cease-fire within the conflict in Ukraine except it’s a part of a “just and lasting” peace deal that features Russia’s navy withdrawal.

Blinken stated that “a cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place — and enables Putin to consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and reattack — that is not a just and lasting peace.”

Russia should additionally pay a share of Ukraine’s reconstruction and be held accountable for launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, Blinken stated in a speech throughout a go to to Finland, which just lately joined NATO and shares a protracted border with Russia.

Allowing Moscow to maintain the one-fifth of Ukraine territory it has occupied would ship the improper message to Russia and to “other would-be aggressors around the world,” in line with Blinken.

Washington is able to assist peace efforts by different nations, together with latest overtures from China and Brazil, he stated. But any peace settlement should uphold the ideas of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

The United States is a number one Western ally and provider of arms to Kyiv to assist it push again in opposition to the Kremlin’s forces.

China, which says it’s impartial and desires to function a mediator however has supported Moscow politically, on Friday urged nations to cease sending weapons to Ukraine.

In Ukraine, air defenses shot down greater than 30 Russian cruise missiles and drones Friday in Moscow’s sixth air assault in six days on Kyiv, native officers stated.

The Ukrainian capital was concurrently attacked from totally different instructions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian area, senior Kyiv official Serhii Popko wrote on Telegram.

A 68-year-old man and an 11-year-old youngster have been wounded within the assault, with personal homes, outbuildings and vehicles sustaining harm from falling particles, in line with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

A latest spate of assaults on the capital has put pressure on residents and examined the power of Ukraine’s air defenses whereas Kyiv officers plot what they are saying is an upcoming counteroffensive to push again the Kremlin’s forces 15 months after their full-scale invasion. Kyiv was the goal of drone and missile assaults on 17 days final month, together with daylight assaults.

Moscow’s technique may backfire, nevertheless, in line with the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based suppose tank.

The air marketing campaign goals to “degrade Ukrainian counteroffensive capabilities, but … the Russian prioritization of Kyiv is likely further limiting the campaign’s ability to meaningfully constrain potential Ukrainian counteroffensive actions,” it stated in an evaluation late Thursday.

Ukrainian air defenses intercepted all 15 cruise missiles and 21 assault drones, Ukraine’s chief of employees, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, stated.

Ukraine’s presidential workplace stated Friday that at the least 4 civilians have been killed and 42 wounded over the earlier 24 hours.

Meanwhile, border areas of Russia as soon as once more got here beneath hearth from Ukraine. Recent cross-border raids have additionally rattled these areas of Russia and put the Kremlin on guard.

That may very well be a Ukrainian technique to disperse Russian forces earlier than a counteroffensive begins.

“Russian commanders now face an acute dilemma of whether to (strengthen) defenses in Russia’s border regions or reinforce their lines in occupied Ukraine,” the U.Okay. Ministry of Defense stated Friday.

Air protection techniques shot down “several Ukrainian drones” in a single day Thursday in Russia’s southern Kursk area, which borders Ukraine, regional Gov. Roman Starovoit wrote on Telegram.

In the neighboring Bryansk area, which additionally borders Ukraine, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz stated that Ukrainian forces shelled two villages on Friday morning. No casualties have been reported.

Two drones additionally attacked power services in Russia’s western Smolensk area, which borders Belarus, within the early hours of Friday, officers stated.

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