Blinken: Ukrainians have done what no one thought was possible

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this during an end-of-year news conference, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We will continue to rally countries around the world to support Ukraine's freedom and independence and to ensure that Russia's aggression remains a strategic failure," he said.

He added that Putin had already failed to achieve his principal objective in Ukraine: erasing it from the map and subsuming it into Russia.

"It's been a hard year on the battlefield. But once again, Ukrainians have done what no one thought was possible," Blinken said.

Blinken noted that Ukraine stood toe to toe with one of the world's biggest militaries, conceding no territory despite multiple Russian offensives. The Ukrainians pushed Russia's Navy back in the Black Sea and opened a corridor to allow them to export grain and other products to the world.

"Russia is weaker militarily, economically, and diplomatically," he said.

On the other hand, according to him, NATO is bigger, stronger and more united than at any point in its nearly 75-year history. Blinken recalled that Finland had recently acceded to the military alliance and Sweden would join soon.

"International support has been critical to Ukraine's success. Europe has contributed more than $110 billion to Ukraine, compared to about $70 billion from the United States," he said.

He stressed that this was one of the best examples of burden sharing. In this regard, he also praised the European Union's decision to start accession talks with Ukraine.

Blinken also recalled the contributions of Japan, South Korea, Australia and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region, which provided major military and humanitarian assistance, and support in rebuilding Ukraine's energy grid.

"Like us, they know that supporting Ukraine is vital to showing would-be aggressors everywhere that we will stand up to those who seek to redraw borders by force," he said.

Blinken also mentioned Putin's statement that Ukraine seems to have no future.

"He [Putin] thinks his strategy of waiting us out while sending wave after wave of young Russians into the meat grinder of his own making will pay off," he said.

In this context, Blinken said that America's ongoing support is critical to enabling Ukraine's brave soldiers and citizens to keep up their fight, to ensure that Russia's war remains a strategic failure and to continue helping Ukraine move toward standing strongly on its own two feet militarily, economically and democratically.

Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg