HELSINKI, Finland: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday termed the invasion of Ukraine by Russia a “strategic failure” for the invading country, as he pointed to Western unity and Moscow’s losses.
Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure — greatly diminishing Russia’s military, economic, and diplomatic power and its influence for years to come,” Blinken said in a speech in Helsinki.
“When you look at President Putin’s long-term strategic aims and objectives, there is no question: Russia is significantly worse off today than it was before the full-scale invasion,” Blinken said in Helsinki City Hall before a stage of US flags.
Blinken pointed to Russia’s losses on the field and markets in Europe besides Finland’s entrance into NATO. “The Kremlin often claimed it had the second strongest military in the world — and many believed it. Today, many see Russia’s military as the second strongest in Ukraine,” Blinken said to chuckles from the audience. Blinken said Ukraine has strengthened US resolve on China ‘threat’.
Meanwhile, two civilians were killed on Friday from shelling in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, which has seen intensified attacks and incursions recently, said the regional governor.
“Shrapnel hit cars passing by. Two women travelling in one of them died on the spot from their wounds,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod governor said.
He further said that Ukrainian forces had fired at a road in the village of Maslova Pristan, in the Shebekino district that has been the most affected by the recent shelling. “There are two wounded in a second car. A man with shrapnel wounds to the chest, and a second man with injuries on the lower limbs,” Gladkov said. The two wounded, “in a serious condition”, were taken to the hospital.
According to the statement from the governor, Ukrainian shelling damaged other population in the region but did not cause any human loss. On Thursday, the Russian army said it thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to invade the Belgorod region. While fleeing the intensified fire, residents from Shebekino have started filling up displaced centres in the regional capital, also called Belgorod. — APP
