Blinken: ‘Russia Fights for Conquest, Ukraine Fights for Its Freedom’

Blinken: “President Zelenskyy has put forward a 10-point plan for a just and durable peace. President Putin, by contrast, has made clear that there’s nothing to talk about until Ukraine accepts, and I quote, ‘the new territorial realities,’ while doubling down on his brutal tactics. Members of this council have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that any peace is just and durable. Council members should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire. Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control over the territory it’s illegally seized and replenish its forces for further attacks. That’s what happened when Russia’s first assault on Ukraine froze in 2015. Look at what followed.

And members of this council should not fall into the false equivalency of calling on both sides to stop fighting or calling on other nations to stop supporting Ukraine in the name of peace. No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the U.N. Charter. In this war, there is an aggressor and there is a victim. Russia fights for conquest, Ukraine fights for its freedom. If Russia stops fighting and leaves Ukraine, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. The fact remains, one man, Vladimir Putin started this war, one man can end it.”