White House responds to Putin claiming West “guilty” of war

If Vladimir Putin insists it’s a collective West, rather than the Kremlin, that is responsible for Russia’s war on Ukraine, he should stop its attacks and that is when the war will end.

That’s according to the White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan, who spoke at a briefing in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, according to Ukrinform’s own correspondent.

“I will say that President Putin has been making the argument for some time that it is the West and not Russia to blame for the war in Ukraine. Well, there’s a simple way to test that proposition.  If Russia stops fighting the war in Ukraine and goes home, the war ends,” the advisor said.

At the same time, if Ukraine stops fighting and the United States and the coalition stops helping them fight, “Ukraine disappears from the map.” 

“So, I think that kind of tells you everything you need to know about who’s responsible for this war,” said Sullivan.

He went on to stress that this was “a war of choice.”

“Putin chose to fight it.  He could have chosen not to.  And he can choose even now to end it, to go home,” the official noted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly ahead of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion. He once again accused the West of causing the war Russia is waging against Ukraine, and vowed to continue the military campaign.