National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed suggestions that the United States should encourage Ukraine to negotiate a settlement with Russia.
Kirby, who serves as the NSC’s coordinator for strategic communications, discussed the federal government’s continued support for Ukraine when asked what the United States’ goal was with regard to the brutal military conflict during an interview on Fox News Sunday.
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“The goal is to make sure that Ukraine can continue to defend itself, and can defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity,” Kirby told the network. “You heard the president talk about this at NATO just a few days ago, we don’t want to see Ukraine defeated by Russia and that’s why we are continuing to rush aid and assistance, now more than $7 billion in assistance, that’s just from the United States alone to Ukraine.”
Pressed about U.S. support for a peace deal, the former Pentagon spokesman argued that it was not the United States’ role to push for a settlement regardless of if it was the right thing to do, saying: “It’s time for the United States to continue to support Ukraine, and that’s what we are doing.”
Kirby added that the decision to return to peace deal discussions was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s choice to make, before noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had yet to show any willingness to negotiate in good faith.
“President Zelensky,” Kirby said, “he gets to determine how victory is decided and when and on what terms. And what we’re going to do is continue to make sure that can succeed on the battlefield so that he can succeed at the table. But even President Zelensky will tell you that the time is not now for those discussions, and certainly President Putin has shown no indication that he’s interested in negotiated talks. In fact, quite the contrary. He continues to not only lash out in the Donbas, but conducts airstrikes now in places like Kyiv.”
Russia began invading Ukraine in late February and has turned millions of women and children into refugees fleeing the violence. The bloodshed has also killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians and an unknown number of Russians. President Joe Biden and other major western leaders condemned Putin as a war criminal as devastation mounted across the European country and committed to providing Ukraine with the necessary resources to fight the invasion.
Multiple efforts at peace talks have failed, though they have revealed the level of depravity of the Russian forces. Ukraine has united in its resolve to fight the continued invasion, though it is unclear how long the country will be able to keep Russian forces from taking any major cities.
Putin withdrew his forces from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv toward the end of May in order to concentrate on taking the Donbas, which is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine and controlled by Russian-backed separatist groups. This did not stop the Russian leader, however, from resuming missile strikes on civilian areas of Kyiv in recent weeks.
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Asked about Ukrainian resolve and their performance militarily, Kirby praised the eastern European country for outperforming global expectations.
“The Ukrainians are fighting really bravely and skillfully, Mike, and they’re not only working to defend territory — and they have done a noble job of that — they’re going on the counteroffensive,” he said.
