US top diplomat says he is 'convinced' Putin will fail in Ukraine

WASHINGTON

Russian President Vladimir Putin "will fail" in his ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow will be dealt a "strategic defeat" there, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

The top diplomat said Putin is increasingly turning to a "strategy of laying waste to" Ukraine's population centers, and despite tactical gains in seizing some Ukrainian cities, he is facing widespread popular opposition as his forces seize those areas.

"If his goal is to impose some kind of puppet regime by displacing the existing government and putting in place one to his liking, I think it's pretty evident by the response of the Ukrainian people, that they will never accept that," Blinken said during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss.

"And if he tries to enforce such a puppet regime by keeping Russian forces in Ukraine it will be a long, bloody, drawn-out mess through which Russia will continue to suffer grievously," added Blinken.

Truss issued a similarly-worded assessment on Putin's prospects, emphasizing that the West must maintain its unity in imposing costs on Russia.

"Now is not the time to let up," she said. "We know that if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine there will be terrible implications for European and global security. We would be sending a message that sovereign nations can simply be trampled on."

The West has imposed biting economic sanctions on Russia in retaliation for its war, spurring an exodus of major international firms from Russia. It has also imposed restrictions on the export of key technologies.

At least 474 civilians have been killed and 864 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's war on Feb. 24, according to UN figures. Over 2.1 million other Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries, recent data by the UN refugee agency showed.

A recent airstrike blamed by local officials on Russia leveled a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol earlier on Wednesday, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to renew his appeal for the West to institute a no-fly zone over the country.

"People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity," the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram.

The American and British top diplomats, however, continued to reject the calls, saying it would almost certainly lead to a direct military confrontation between NATO and Russia.

"It would prolong it. It would make it much more deadlier than it already is. And that would be neither in the interests of our countries, nor in the interest of Ukraine," Blinken said.

The US and UK have been supplying the Ukrainian military with defensive equipment, with Washington supplying anti-tank and anti-air munitions. The UK had been supplying with anti-tank arms, but announced on Wednesday it is considering supplying its Starstreak anti-aircraft weapons as well.