United States Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has explained that America is against Russia’s war with Ukraine because it is “one man’s choice to wage a premeditated, unjust, unprovoked war against a sovereign country”.
Sherman, in an interview with Fox News yesterday, said America’s belief in sovereignty was being attacked by Putin.
She added that Ukrainian people were either going to starve to death or freeze to death or die “because they don’t have their medicine. It is truly horrifying”.
“There are two objectives that we have. One is to support Ukraine in every way we can, and indeed, since the Biden administration began, we have put $1.2 billion forward in security assistance to help Ukraine defend itself against this horrible attack. And the second is to put enormous pressure on Vladimir Putin to try to change his calculus, to end this war, to get a ceasefire in the first instance, to get humanitarian corridors, and to end this invasion. That pressure is beginning to have some effect. We are seeing some signs of a willingness to have real, serious negotiations. But I have to say, as your reporter said, so far it appears that Vladimir Putin is intent on destroying Ukraine. We need to help Ukrainians in every way we can,” Sherman said.
The Deputy Secretary of State said America’s $1.2 billion in security assistance, anti-tank, anti-armour, and anti-aircraft were helping Ukraine to resist the onslaught of the Russian army, adding that everyone’s support was being coordinated “to try to mediate and end this terrible, terrible situation”.
She commended the bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S.
“And one of the things I think has been really terrific in this horrifying situation is there has been bipartisan support for Ukraine. I’m really grateful that Congress recently passed the legislation – provide an additional $200 million dollars in drawdown that Secretary Blinken signed out yesterday. So, this is a bipartisan effort. At the Munich Security Conference, there was a strong bipartisan delegation in support of Ukraine. And there is that kind of support on Capitol Hill, which I think sends an important signal not only to Ukraine, but to Putin that he can’t divide America, he can’t divide NATO, he can’t divide Europe, and he can’t divide the world. A hundred and forty-one countries signed up to a resolution at the UN General Assembly denouncing what Vladimir Putin is doing. This is one man’s choice to wage a premeditated, unjust, unprovoked war against a sovereign country. We can’t let it stand,” she said. She, however, expected more of China.
“We saw Russia and China come closer together, certainly before the Olympics, putting out a long manifesto about their partnership and how they were going to move forward together. And at the same time, we’ve seen China pretty uncomfortable with an invasion of a sovereign country. China has often said that sovereignty is key, territorial integrity is key, that countries should decide their own political future. We agree with those principles. We hope that China does as well.
“In two weeks, Vladimir Putin undid 30 years of economic development. There was an international order that China and Russia both subscribed to that helped – both countries developed. For Russia, that is now gone. We’re seeing them be taken out of every organisation. The President’s going to move forward with the Congress on removing them from most-favoured nation status at the WTO, the World Trade Organisation. I think the PRC is watching very closely, has to make some tough decisions,” Sherman said.
