Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Tuesday that he had canceled a planned meeting with his Russian counterpart, but that the United States would continue to pursue diplomacy if Russia takes steps to de-escalate its aggression against Ukraine.
Mr. Blinken had been scheduled to depart Wednesday morning to meet with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. Speaking to reporters at the State Department alongside Ukraine’s visiting foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, Mr. Blinken said he had sent Mr. Lavrov a letter calling off the meeting.
“The further renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine that has now begun means clearly that the idea of having a meeting this week with Foreign Minister Lavrov, to pursue diplomacy — diplomacy now rejected by Russia — does not make sense,” Mr. Blinken said.
Mr. Kuleba said that his government would also seek to pursue diplomacy if possible to forestall a full Russian invasion. If that fails, he added, his people would “fight for every inch of our land, and every city, and every village. To fight until we win.”
Mr. Kuleba said his government appreciated the new sanctions against Russia imposed by the Biden administration. But he called for even stronger action.
“The world must respond with all its economic might to punish Russia for the crimes it has already committed, and ahead of the crimes it plans to commit,” he said. “Hit Russia’s economy now, and hit it hard.”
