FROM THE DESK OF

Secretary Antony J. Blinken

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

In this war, there is an aggressor and there is a victim. One side is attacking the core principles of the UN Charter; the other fights to defend them. 

We will continue to rally countries around the world to support Ukraine’s freedom and independence and to ensure that Russia’s aggression remains a strategic failure. Putin has already failed to achieve his principal objective in Ukraine: erasing it from the map, subsuming it into Russia.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv, Ukraine in September 2023, including a tour of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, to underscore unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine's defense of its sovereign territory. 

It’s been a hard year on the battlefield, but, once again, Ukrainians have done what no one thought was possible: They stood toe to toe with one of the world’s biggest militaries, they pushed Russia’s navy back in the Black Sea, and opened a corridor to allow them to export their grain and other products to the world. 

For two years, Russia has shredded the major tenets of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international humanitarian law, and flouted one Security Council resolution after another.

President Putin is betting that if he keeps doubling down on the violence, that if he’s willing to inflict enough suffering on enough people, the world will cave on its principles and Ukraine will stop defending itself. But Ukrainians are not giving up. They’ve seen what life would look like if they submit to Russian control. It’s families having their children torn away from them and deported to Russia. It’s the rubble of Mariupol. It’s the mass graves of Bucha.

We are not giving up either. Indeed, the United States has rallied our allies and partners to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s full-scale aggression. 

The G7 has led the world in galvanizing support, enduring support for Ukraine.

With Secretary of Defense Austin’s leadership, more than 50 countries are cooperating to support Ukraine’s defense and build a Ukrainian military strong enough to deter and beat back future attacks.

We’ve aligned scores of countries in imposing an unprecedented set of sanctions, export controls, and other economic costs on Russia.

On multiple occasions, we’ve marshaled 140 nations at the United Nations – more than two-thirds of all the member states – to affirm Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemn Russia’s aggression and atrocities.

We’ve rallied donors, philanthropies, humanitarian groups to get lifesaving assistance to millions of displaced Ukrainians.

Russia is weaker militarily, economically, diplomatically, while NATO is bigger and stronger and more united than at any point in its nearly 75-year history.

Some argue that continuing to stand with Ukraine and holding Russia accountable distracts us from addressing other priorities, like confronting the climate crisis, expanding economic opportunity, strengthening health systems. That is a false choice. We can and we must do both; we are doing both.

We’re also seeing something else that’s incredibly powerful – and that is the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian people. 

Working together, volunteering to rebuild their communities. Getting rid of the ordnance and the mines, recovering the land that was taken from them. The United States is very proud to be a partner with Ukraine in all of these efforts, not just in the military effort, to make sure that Ukrainians have what they need to defend against aggression, but also for rebuilding and recovery.

Because of the remarkable bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people and our support, Putin’s war continues to be a strategic failure for Russia. Our goal is to ensure Ukraine not only survives, but thrives, as a vibrant, prosperous democracy, so that Ukrainians can write their own future – and stand on their own.

The United States and so many other countries around the world are standing side by side with Ukraine. 

Our people, Ukraine’s people, the people of all nations, get to write their own future. We cannot, we will not let one man write that future for us.

Slava Ukraini.

Sincerely,

Secretary Antony J. Blinken