US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today accused the Russian government of using winter as a weapon of war in Ukraine and condemned Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian citizens’ infrastructure and energy sources.
In an interview with the CBS channel, quoted by EFE, Blinken considered that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, refused attempts at dialogue to get out of the conflict and, in return, intensified his offensive.
“It has doubled down on everything: mobilizing more forces, annexing territory in Ukraine and now using winter as a weapon,” said the US Secretary of State.
Blinken underlined that due to the fact that Russia “has not been able to win on the battlefield”, the Putin government is now attacking Ukrainian civilians “by going against their energy infrastructure, trying to leave them without light and without heating”. ”.
The comments by the head of US diplomacy come a day after the director of the Secret Service, Avril Haines, assured that the conflict in Ukraine will lose intensity in the winter months, with the parties taking time to recover and rearm to a new offensive in the spring.
“Honestly, we see that there is already a slower pace in the conflict,” Haines said at a national defense forum in California.
The official also said that Russia is using up its ammunition much faster than it can replace it, so Moscow is looking for military support in other countries, including North Korea.
“We believe they are not able to produce internally what they are spending at the moment, so it will be a challenge,” added Haines.
Russia’s government took a financial hit on Friday after G7 countries, the European Union and Australia agreed on a cap of $60 per barrel of Russian oil transported by sea, hoping to limit the revenue being used. to finance the war.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people – more than six million internally displaced and more than 7.8 million to European countries -, according to the most recent data. of the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
