According to the BBC, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes Ukraine can win its battle with Russia.
He couldn’t predict how long the fight would extend, but he insisted that Ukraine’s defeat was not a foregone conclusion.
Mr. Blinken hailed the Ukrainian people’s “amazing perseverance.”
“If Moscow’s objective is to destabilize the government and create its own puppet regime, 45 million Ukrainians will reject it in one way or another,” he stated.
He went on to say that the war hasn’t gone as Russian President Vladimir Putin had hoped.
On the ninth day of the invasion, Ukraine’s tenacious resistance hampered Russian advances across the country.
Russian forces gained territories along the Black Sea coast in the south, while Mariupol, the port city, remained besieged. The governor of Mykolaiv, on the other hand, claimed that Russian soldiers had been forced out of the city.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the north, was also under siege.
After meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels at the start of a six-day journey to Europe, Mr Blinken spoke with BBC diplomatic reporter James Landale.
He said the international community was committed to doing everything it could to help Ukraine and also to put “excruciating pressure on Russia to end this war of choice that Vladimir Putin started”.
Asked if he was convinced Ukrainian could win, he said: “Over time, absolutely.”
“I can’t tell you how long this will go on. I can’t tell you how long it will take. But the idea that Russia can subjugate to its will 45 million people who are ardently fighting for their future and their freedom, that does not involve Russia having its thumb on Ukraine, that tells you a lot.”
