ASPEN, Colorado – Ukraine is on track to be able to “stand tall” militarily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, noting that more than 20 other countries pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid for the country, even if the US withdrew its support under a different president.
Blinken for the first time directly addressed the possibility that former president Donald Trump could win the November elections and move away from commitments to Ukraine. The US, under President Joe Biden, has been the most important supporter of Ukraine’s more than two-year campaign. battle against invading Russian forces.
Trump’s public comments have ranged from criticizing U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense to supporting it, while his running mate, Senator JD Vancewas a leader of the Republican Party efforts to block what were billions in US military and financial assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022.
Concerns among Ukraine and its supporters that the country could lose vital US support have grown as Trump campaign ramps up It is Biden’s vacillations.
Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke by phone on Friday.
“I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support to protect the freedom and independence of our nation,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, saying they agreed “to discuss in a personal meeting what measures can make the peace just and truly lasting.”
Trump said on his social media platform that he appreciated Zelenskyy’s outreach and promised to “end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families.”
Blinken said Friday that any new administration would have to take into account Congress’s strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the interest of countering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to expand Moscow’s territory and influence.
“Each administration has the opportunity, of course, to define its own policy. We cannot fixate on the future,” Blinken said, speaking to an audience of US policymakers and others at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
But he pointed to security arrangements that the United States and more than 20 other allies — including some NATO partners, Japan and the European Union — signed at a NATO summit in Washington this month.
“If we reneged on that… I suppose it would be possible, but fortunately we have 20 other countries that are doing the same thing,” Blinken said.
Ukraine itself was on a trajectory to ensure it “would stand on its own two feet militarily, economically and democratically,” Blinken said.
