Blinken: ‘Putin has already lost’ in attempting to ‘erase’ Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already lost his invasion of Ukraine, which Blinken says he remains confident will come out victorious in the war.

“And the reason that I remain very confident in Ukraine’s ultimate success, which is that they’re fighting for their country, for their future for their freedom, the Russians are not,” Blinken told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” “And keep in mind, Putin has already lost in what he was trying to achieve. He was trying to erase Ukraine from the map and its independence, subsume it into Russia. That has already been a failure.”

The comments come after Blinken arrived in Ukraine in a surprise visit to the country last week. He announced an additional $1 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine during the trip, which will include air support and other resources he says will “build a force for the future, a military force of the future, that is capable of deterring future aggression, and if necessary, defending and defeating it.”

Blinken also said that he has seen “no indication” that Putin wants to engage in “meaningful diplomacy.”

“It takes two to tango and thus far, we see no indication that Vladimir Putin has any interest in meaningful diplomacy,” he said. “If he does, I think the Ukrainians will be the first to engage and we’ll be right behind them. Everyone wants this war to end, but it has stand on just terms and on durable terms that reflect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

When asked about increasing Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow soil, Blinken maintained that the U.S. has not “encouraged” or “enabled” the use of weapons outside of Ukraine’s territory, but noted that Russians are “attacking indiscriminately” throughout Ukraine.