U.S. Secretary of State Blinken arrives in Kyiv, calls on Putin to choose 'peaceful path'

Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as Washington and its Western allies stepped up their warnings to Russia that any assault on Ukraine would bring "massive consequences." 

Although Blinken warned that the Kremlin may attack Ukraine “very soon,” he said he hoped Russia would remain on a “peaceful path” in order to avoid a full-blown military conflict in Eastern Europe along with serious economic consequences for Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Blinken will travel to Geneva on Friday to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in hopes of securing a "diplomatic off-ramp" to the Ukraine crisis after Moscow rejected fresh talks on Ukraine unless the West responded to its demands, which include sweeping security guarantees — including a permanent ban on Ukraine joining NATO.

But Washington has rejected the demands, which also include limits on allied deployments in former Warsaw Pact allies like Poland and the ex-Soviet Baltic states that joined NATO after the Cold War.

In a statement, the Kremlin reported that Lavrov told Blinken that Moscow needs “concrete article-by-article” answers to its demands “as soon as possible” and that he should not “replicate speculation about the allegedly impending 'Russian aggression.'"

But while State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Blinken has continued to stress “the importance of continuing a diplomatic path to de-escalate tensions,” he asserted that Russia might not actually be interested in a diplomatic solution.

"I think it's still too early to tell if the Russian government is genuinely interested in diplomacy, if it is prepared to negotiate seriously in good faith, or whether it will use discussions as a pretext to claim that diplomacy didn't address Moscow's interests," he said.

But concerns brought about by Russia’s “deeply troubling” build-up of more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s border only grew this week as the Kremlin began moving troops to Ukraine’s northern neighbor Belarus for joint military exercises.

Some military analysts have warned that Russia could route its forces through Belarus in the case of a broad invasion, effectively stretching out Ukraine’s defenses by leveraging the two countries’ nearly 700-mile border. 

Further reports have also shown more military assets, including tanks and short-range ballistic missiles, have been transported across Belarus toward Ukraine within the last week.