The United States has declared unacceptable calls for a truce in Ukraine following talks scheduled for March 20-22 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The White House’s position on the prospects for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine was expressed by John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the White House National Security Council, on Fox News.
“If this meeting results in a call for a truce, that will be unacceptable,” Kirby said.
Kirby explained that the White House fears the truce will “ratify Russia’s gains by today” and also give Russia time to “train new men and plan a new offensive.”
Kirby acknowledged that Russia and China have now reached a high level of bilateral cooperation. Beijing, he said, approves of Russia in Ukraine, because it “has accepted the statements of the Russian Federation that this is some kind of existential threat to Russia, that the war is the fault of the West”.
“We’ll be watching closely what comes out of this visit,” Kirby said.
Earlier it was reported that Xi Jinping will pay an official state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22 at the invitation of Putin. According to the Kremlin press service, following the talks, documents will be signed on the development of a joint partnership in a new era and the main vectors of economic cooperation between the two countries.
Recall that during a press briefing the day before, John Kirby expressed Washington’s concern about the Chinese leader’s upcoming visit to Moscow and called on Xi Jinping to also hold talks in Kiev in order to listen ” not only the Russian point of view”. Kirby noted that now “the ceasefire would, in effect, become the ratification of Russian gains”, and said the United States did not consider this fair.
The message that Kirby describes as unacceptable for the truce in Ukraine during Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia
