WASHINGTON – The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced on Tuesday the cancellation of the meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, which was scheduled for Thursday in Geneva (Switzerland), after Moscow recognized the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine.
“Now that we see the invasion beginning and Russia has made clear its total rejection of diplomacy, there is no point in continuing with that meeting”, said Blinken, at a press conference in Washington with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba.
Even so, the head of US diplomacy stressed that if there is anything that Washington can to avoid “the worst case scenario”, such as an attack on the whole of Ukraine, including its capital, Kiev, “always will”.
Therefore, he stated that the United States remains “open” to the diplomacy, but first, he said, Moscow must show that it is “serious, and in the last 24 hours it has shown just the opposite”.
In the opinion of Blinken, Russia has not even been “serious” about the meeting with Lavrov: “We made it clear that in the context of a Russian invasion, we would not go ahead with that meeting,” he recalled.
Blinken has canceled the meeting with his Russian counterpart after Russia recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, and the sending of Russian troops to Donbas.
Before this situation, Kuleba stressed that Ukraine has two plans, one that would be to use all diplomatic tools to dissuade Moscow from further escalation.
“If that fails, plan B is to fight for every inch of our land, every city, every town,” Kuleba advanced.
The Ukrainian minister assured that “Russia has brought the world to the brink of the greatest catastrophe since World War II. dial” and emphasized his country’s support for sanctions against Moscow, such as those announced on Tuesday by US President Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, he stressed that Ukraine continues collaborating with Washington, the EU and NATO in diplomatic efforts to reduce tension.
At their meeting on Tuesday, Blinken and Kuleba discussed “steps to protect Ukraine,” including a “lend-lease” program, similar to the one applied during World War II, to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses, said the Ukrainian foreign minister.
Kuleba was referring to the US Law on Lending and Leasing of 1941, used for the last time in World War II by the US, which would serve to lend military equipment to Ukraine.