Speaking before a parliamentary committee in Washington, he reaffirmed that any eventual peace with Russia must be “just and lasting”, that is to say respecting the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but “how it is defined precisely on the ground, we expect Ukrainians to tell us”.
He thus seemed to endorse the fact that the Ukrainians would find it difficult to recover all the territories annexed by Russia, in particular Crimea.
“I think there are going to be territories in Ukraine that Ukrainians will be determined to fight for on the ground, and maybe territories that they decide they have to try to win back by other means,” he asserted.
Mr. Blinken was specifically questioned by the elected republican Chris Stewart to know if the United States supports the will of president Volodymyr Zelensky to recover Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
The senior diplomat, who believes that the conditions for a negotiation are not met, insisted on the fact that “these are decisions that the Ukrainians must take on how they see their future and how this translates in terms of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the country”.
“What we don’t want, in everyone’s interest, is for this to be resolved in a place and time that will only invite the Russians to reposition, rearm and re-attack,” he said. he said.
The United States and its Western partners do not recognize the annexation of Crimea or the territories annexed by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, where fierce fighting is taking place.
The coalition led by the United States, which provides the largest military aid to Ukraine, claims to be ready to defend Ukraine as much as necessary until the withdrawal of Russian forces but remains mostly evasive on the case of Crimea.