Daily Archives: June 3, 2022

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Senegal's President Macky Sall said Russia's Vladimir Putin had told him on Friday he was ready to enable the export of Ukrainian grain to ease a global food crisis that is hitting Africa especially hard.

"President #Putin has expressed to us his willingness to facilitate the export of Ukrainian cereals," Sall wrote on Twitter after meeting Putin in his role as chairman of the African Union.

Russia was also ready to ensure the export of its own wheat and fertiliser, Sall said after the talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on day 100 of Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

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Sall did not say if Putin had attached any conditions to his offer. Russia has previously said it is ready to allow vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine in return for the lifting of some Western sanctions against it, a proposal that Ukraine has described as "blackmail".

Africa is heavily dependent on grain supplies from Russia and Ukraine that have been badly disrupted by the war.

"I have come to see you, to ask you to be aware that our countries, even far from the theatre (of war), are the victims of this economic crisis," Sall told Putin earlier.

In remarks that were carried on Russian state television, he said most African countries had avoided condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine at votes in the United Nations.

In the televised part of the meeting, Putin made no reference to the food crisis but spoke in general terms of Moscow's desire to develop ties with Africa.

Russia's army has seized much of Ukraine's southern coastline and its warships control access to the country's Black Sea ports. Yet it continues to blame Ukraine and the West for the resulting halt in Ukrainian grain exports.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters before the meeting: "The president will tell our African friends the real state of affairs, he will explain once again what is happening there, who has mined the ports, what is needed for grain to go, that no one on the Russian side is blocking these ports."

Moscow blames the situation on naval mines floating near Ukrainian ports and on Western sanctions that are hitting its own grain and fertiliser exports because of the impact on shipping, banking and insurance.

Sall said he had spoken to the European Union this week and said everything concerning food and grain supplies should be outside the scope of sanctions.

African countries are acutely affected by the growing crisis, which has sent prices of grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key global fertilizer exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

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Additional reporting by Bate Felix in Dakar, editing by Frances Kerry

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Africans tell Putin of pain from food crisis, Kremlin denies blame - Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on the road construction development via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia June 2, 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS

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LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Approaching the 100-day mark in a war that he refuses to call by its name, Russian President Vladimir Putin is a man intent on conveying the impression of business as usual.

As his army fought its way into the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk this week, Putin was making awkward small talk in a televised ceremony to honour parents of exceptionally large families.

Since the start of May, he has met - mostly online - with educators, oil and transport bosses, officials responsible for tackling forest fires, and the heads of at least a dozen Russian regions, many of them thousands of miles from Ukraine.

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Along with several sessions of his Security Council and a series of calls with foreign leaders, he found time for a video address to players, trainers and spectators of the All-Russian Night Hockey League.

The appearance of solid, even boring routine is consistent with the Kremlin's narrative that it is not fighting a war - merely waging a "special military operation" to bring a troublesome neighbour to heel.

For a man whose army has heavily underperformed in Ukraine and been beaten back from its two biggest cities, suffering untold thousands of casualties, Putin shows no visible sign of stress.

In contrast with the run-up to the Feb. 24 invasion, when he denounced Ukraine and the West in bitter, angry speeches, his rhetoric is restrained. The 69-year-old appears calm, focused and fully in command of data and details.

While acknowledging the impact of Western sanctions, he tells Russians their economy will emerge stronger and more self-sufficient, while the West will suffer a boomerang effect from spiralling food and fuel prices.

But as the war grinds on with no end in sight, Putin faces an increasing challenge to maintain the semblance of normality.

Economically, the situation will worsen as sanctions bite harder and Russia heads towards recession.

Militarily, Putin's forces have gradually advanced in eastern Ukraine but the United States and its allies are stepping up arms supplies to Kyiv, including a U.S. promise this week of advanced rocket systems.

Should Russia's offensive falter, Putin could be forced into declaring a full-scale mobilisation of reserves to bolster his depleted forces, Western defence experts say.

"This would involve more than a million people in Russia, and then of course it will be visible for those whose who have not yet realised that Russia is in a full war," said Gerhard Mangott, an Austrian academic who has met and observed Putin over many years.

That would be a hard sell to a Russian public which is mainly reliant on state media loyal to the Kremlin and has therefore been kept in ignorance of the scale of Russian setbacks and casualties.

Yet Russia is still not at that point, Mangott said, and Putin may draw some encouragement from signs of Western fatigue with the war. Divisions are emerging between Ukraine's most hawkish backers - the United States, Britain, Poland and the Baltic states - and a group of countries including Italy, France and Germany which are pressing to bring an end to the war.

"Putin is counting that the longer this war drags on, the more conflicts and frictions within the Western camp will appear," he said.

Meanwhile peace talks with Ukraine stalled weeks ago, and Putin shows absolutely no sign of seeking a diplomatic exit. "He still thinks there is a good military solution to this problem," said Olga Oliker, program director for Europe and Central Asia at Crisis Group.

Putin preserves the option to claim victory at any point because his stated objectives - what he called the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine - "were always goals that you could declare accomplished because they were never clearly defined and were always somewhat ridiculous", Oliker said.

The words "war" and "Ukraine" were never spoken during Putin's 40-minute video encounter on Wednesday with the prolific families, including Vadim and Larisa Kadzayev with their 15 children from Beslan in the North Caucasus region.

Wearing their best dresses and suits, the families sat stiffly at tables laden with flowers and food as Putin called on them in turn to introduce themselves. On the same day, eight empty school buses pulled into the main square of Lviv in western Ukraine to serve as a reminder of 243 Ukrainian children killed since the start of Putin's invasion.

The closest he came to acknowledging the war was in a pair of references to the plight of children in Donbas and the "extraordinary situation" there.

Russia had many problems but that was always the case, he said as he wrapped up the online meeting. "Nothing unusual is actually happening here."

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Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Nick Macfie

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Putin clings to semblance of normality as his war grinds on - Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council involving the Eurasian Economic Union's (EAEU) heads of states via a video link in Moscow, Russia May 27, 2022.

Sputnik | Reuters

The Treasury Department on Thursday said it expanded its Russian sanctions to further crack down on Moscow's access to yachts as the U.S. continues to punish President Vladimir Putin for his decision to invade Ukraine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that its latest actions target a Kremlin-aligned yacht brokerage, several prominent Russian government officials, and Putin's close associate and money manager, Sergei Roldugin.

Specifically, the Treasury blocked the use of two ships the Russia-flagged Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, saying Putin has used them for travel in the past.

"While the leader of Russia, Putin has taken numerous trips on these yachts," the Treasury Department said in a press release, "including a 2021 trip in the Black Sea where he was joined by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the OFAC-designated corrupt ruler of Belarus, who has supported Russia's war against Ukraine."

The U.S. and its allies have imposed a raft of unprecedented sanctions on Russia's economy since Moscow attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24.

American officials also said financial penalties will be extended to companies and individuals who owned or managed the two boats, including Cyrus-registered SCF Management Services, Ironstone Marine Investments, JSC Argument and O'Neill Assets Corp.

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The OFAC said it will target two other ships, Shellest and Nega. Shellest, officials said, occasionally travels to the coast where Putin's infamous Black Sea palace is located, while Nega ferries Putin for travel in Russia's north.

U.S. officials have for months said that Russian yacht and yacht management businesses are key to the country's industrial complex and its web of shell companies that helps Moscow's elite channel billions of dollars into luxury assets like superyachts and villas.

Many of Russia's wealthiest citizens, with businesses linked to the Kremlin, plow hundreds of millions of profits into yachts: Gold-and-marble bathroom fixtures, decks made of rare wood and sized to accommodate helicopters, cars and several swimming pools.

U.S. financial and law enforcement officials are trying to put pressure on Putin by seizing these the ships as they come to anchor in allied ports.

A report from The New York Times published Wednesday said that Imperial Yachts, a ship management company, caters to oligarchs whose wealth rises and falls based on the decisions made by Putin.

One day later, OFAC said the Monaco-based company and its Russian CEO, Evgeniy Kochman, are now subject to U.S. sanctions.

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U.S. goes after more Russian yachts linked to Putin in expanded sanctions - CNBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin fired a slew of generals earlier this week as Moscow continues to experience losses among its top officers and generals during its invasion of Ukraine.

Five top generals Maj. Gens. Vasily Kukushkin, Alexander Laas, Andrey Lipilin, Alexander Udovenko and Yuri Instrankin in addition to Police Colonel Emil Musin were fired by the Russian president on Monday, the Russian newspaper Pravda reported, citing a decree extract, which a source close to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia confirmed the authenticity of to the news outlet.

Pravda, citing Russian media organization RBC, noted that a standard employee reshuffle procedure accounted for why the top officials had been fired.

But the development comes as officials have noted that Russia has suffered an unprecedented loss of top officers and generals.

In modern history, there is no situation comparable in terms of the deaths of generals. Here, on the Russian side, in a two-month period, weve seen at least a dozen, if not more, Russian generals killed, former supreme allied commander of NATO, Retired Adm. James Stavridis, told John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM in an interview early last month.

The United Kingdoms defense ministry also noted that Russia had likely suffered serious losses of mid and junior ranking officers amid the ongoing conflict.

Brigade and battalion commanders likely deploy forwards into harms way because they are held to an uncompromising level of responsibility for their units performance. Similarly, junior officers have had to lead to the lowest level tactical actions, as the army lacks the cadre of highly trained and empowered non-commissioned officers (NCOs) who fulfill that role in Western forces, the ministry said in an intelligence update late last month.

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Putin fires five more generals: report - The Hill

It is now three months since the west launched its economic war against Russia, and it is not going according to plan. On the contrary, things are going very badly indeed.

Sanctions were imposed on Vladimir Putin not because they were considered the best option, but because they were better than the other two available courses of action: doing nothing or getting involved militarily.

The first set of economic measures were introduced immediately after the invasion, when it was assumed Ukraine would capitulate within days. That didnt happen, with the result that sanctions while still incomplete have gradually been intensified.

There is, though, no immediate sign of Russia pulling out of Ukraine and thats hardly surprising, because the sanctions have had the perverse effect of driving up the cost of Russias oil and gas exports, massively boosting its trade balance and financing its war effort. In the first four months of 2022, Putin could boast a current account surplus of $96bn (76bn) more than treble the figure for the same period of 2021.

When the EU announced its partial ban on Russian oil exports earlier this week, the cost of crude oil on the global markets rose, providing the Kremlin with another financial windfall. Russia is finding no difficulty finding alternative markets for its energy, with exports of oil and gas to China in April up more than 50% year on year.

Thats not to say the sanctions are pain-free for Russia. The International Monetary Fund estimates the economy will shrink by 8.5% this year as imports from the west collapse. Russia has stockpiles of goods essential to keep its economy going, but over time they will be used up.

But Europe is only gradually weaning itself off its dependency on Russian energy, and so an immediate financial crisis for Putin has been averted. The rouble courtesy of capital controls and a healthy trade surplus is strong. The Kremlin has time to find alternative sources of spare parts and components from countries willing to circumvent western sanctions.

When the global movers and shakers met in Davos last week, the public message was condemnation of Russian aggression and renewed commitment to stand solidly behind Ukraine. But privately, there was concern about the economic costs of a prolonged war.

These concerns are entirely justified. Russias invasion of Ukraine has given an added boost to already strong price pressures. The UKs annual inflation rate stands at 9% its highest in 40 years petrol prices have hit a record high and the energy price cap is expected to increase by 700-800 a year in October. Rishi Sunaks latest support package to cope with the cost-of-living crisis was the third from the chancellor in four months and there will be more to come later in the year.

As a result of the war, western economies face a period of slow or negative growth and rising inflation a return to the stagflation of the 1970s. Central banks including the Bank of England feel they have to respond to near double-digit inflation by raising interest rates. Unemployment is set to rise. Other European countries face the same problems, if not more so, since most of them are more dependent on Russian gas than is the UK.

The problems facing the worlds poorer countries are of a different order of magnitude. For some of them the issue is not stagflation, but starvation, as a result of wheat supplies from Ukraines Black Sea ports being blocked.

As David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme put it: Right now, Ukraines grain silos are full. At the same time, 44 million people around the world are marching towards starvation.

In every multilateral organisation the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations fears are growing of a humanitarian catastrophe. The position is simple: unless developing nations are energy exporters themselves, they face a triple whammy in which fuel and food crises trigger financial crises. Faced with the choice of feeding their populations or paying their international creditors, governments will opt for the former. Sri Lanka was the first country since the Russian invasion to default on its debts, but is unlikely to be the last. The world appears closer to a full-blown debt crisis than at any time since the 1990s.

Putin has rightly been condemned for weaponising food, but his willingness to do so should come as no surprise. From the start, the Russian president has been playing a long game, waiting for the international coalition against him to fragment. The Kremlin thinks Russias threshold for economic pain is higher than the wests, and it is probably right about that.

If proof were needed that sanctions are not working, then President Joe Bidens decision to supply Ukraine with advanced rocket systems provides it. The hope is that modern military technology from the US will achieve what energy bans and the seizure of Russian assets have so far failed to do: force Putin to withdraw his troops.

Complete defeat for Putin on the battlefield is one way the war could end, although as things stand that doesnt appear all that likely. There are other possible outcomes. One is that the economic blockade eventually works, with ever-tougher sanctions forcing Russia to back down. Another is a negotiated settlement.

Putin is not going to surrender unconditionally, and the potential for severe collateral damage from the economic war is obvious: falling living standards in developed countries; famine, food riots and a debt crisis in the developing world.

The atrocities committed by Russian troops mean compromising with the Kremlin is currently hard to swallow, but economic reality suggests only one thing: sooner or later a deal will be struck.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Russia is winning the economic war - and Putin is no closer to withdrawing troops - The Guardian

Intercepted recordings shows Russian military officers cursing out Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders in charge of the invasion of Ukraine.

The audio recordings come from an unspecified Ukrainian intelligence agency, which intercepted the phone calls, and were provided to the Radio Svoboda investigative project "Schemes."

Excerpts of the intercepted calls were published on YouTube on Monday.

In the audio, a senior Russian officer can be heard bad-mouthing Russia's minister of defense Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu, a close ally of Putin, was one of the few Kremlin insiders who made the decision to invade Ukraine, Bloomberg reported in April.

"Shoigu is completely fucking incompetent," he says in the recording. "Just a fucking showman, for fuck's sake," he adds.

According to the investigation, the officer was Lieutenant Colonel Vladimirovich Vlasov.

Vlasov also calls Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, Russia's top commander in Ukraine, a "complete and utter imbecile" and a "brainless fucking idiot" in the recordings.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Dvornikov hasn't been seen for two weeks, leading some US officials to speculate that he may have been relieved of his post.

Vlasov was speaking to a Russian military medic, Colonel Vitaliy Kovtun, according to Radio Svoboda. Kovtun, per the recordings, refers to both Shoigu and Putin as a "fucking cunt."

Radio Svoboda contacted both men for comment.

Kovtun took the phone call and responded by calling the journalist a "fucking cunt" and threatening to report him to Russia's FSB security agency.

Vlasov answered the phone call but declined to offer a comment. He refused to answer follow-up calls, according to Radio Svoboda.

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Audio: Russian officers curse out Putin, others over Ukraine invasion - Business Insider

Speculation about President Vladimir Putin's health reached fever pitch on Sunday after former MI6 Russia spy Christopher Steele indicated the Russian president could be seriously ill.

Speaking to Sky News, Steele said Putin's health could be a factor in the unfolding invasion of Ukraine.

Since invading Ukraine Putin has had shaky media appearances and has been described with varying reliability as suffering from everything from Parkinson's disease to dementia.

Putin has for decades cultivated an image of virile masculinity at peak fitness but an investigation by independent Russian media outlet Proekt alleged that this was only possible with significant deception.

Most specifics about Putin's health are almost impossible to confirm. His top spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has repeatedly denied any issues. Medical professionals have refused to give weight to the rumors, as Deutsche Welle reported, arguing that accurate diagnoses can only be made by in-person examinations.

Here is a timeline of moments when Putin's health has come into question.

In fall 2012, Reuters cited three government sources saying Putin had back trouble and would need surgery soon.

The Kremlin denied this, but after Russian newspaper Vedomosti said that Putin had hurt himself while hang-gliding, Peskov said the trouble was due to "an ordinary sporting injury" in which Putin had strained a muscle, as The Atlantic reported.

By the end of December 2012, Proekt alleged that Putin was wearing a corset and significantly limiting or even skipping sit-down engagements due to likely back problems. The outlet cited unnamed Russian officials for the information.

On November 4, Russia's National Unity Day, the Kremlin limited itself to still photos of Putin's appearance at a ceremony in Red Square, according to Proekt. However, footage posted by religious leaders in Moscow showed the president with a slight limp.

By matching the check-in dates of medical specialists with Putin's travel schedule, Proekt found that Putin was regularly accompanied by at least five doctors in these years a number that would later swell to 13.

They included an ENT specialist, an infectious diseases specialist, a staff rescuscitologist, and a neurosurgeon, the outlet reported.

Between November 25 and December 1, Putin appeared only in pre-recorded meetings, Proekt reported. Meanwhile, 12 specialists suddenly checked in at the Sochi hospital near his residence, including his personal doctors, neurosurgeons, and a rehabilitation specialist, according to Proekt.

Putin, an avid ice hockey player, almost somersaulted when he crashed to the ground during a match in Sochi at the age of 64, CNN reported.

According to Proekt, the player Pavel Bure had crashed into him. After this, an orthopedic traumatologist known to regularly treat the president checked in to a hospital just outside Putin's residence, Proekt reported.

Between August 8 and 16 that year, the president disappeared from public view, with oncologist-surgeon Evgeny Selivanov, Proekt reported. The presence of an ENT doctor suggested a thyroid issue, the outlet said.

Selivanov joined Putin's medical entourage, flying to his location 35 times in the space of four years, the outlet reported. Only ENT doctors have seen him more often, the outlet said.

Putin disappeared from view from February 12 to 1 in 2018, just one month before polling day, Proekt reported. Acknowledging his canceled events, Peskov said Putin has a cold, per ABC News.

A COVID-19 outbreak among presidential staff in September last year led Putin to self-isolate for two weeks. Ten days later, he denied any ill health after he was seen coughing during a televised meeting.

Soon after, The New York Times reported that Putin was imposing increasingly stringent isolation procedures on anyone due to see him face-to-face including isolation for two weeks prior and the requirement to pass through a disinfectant tunnel.

This came weeks after Russia lifted most of its COVID-19 measures nationwide, the paper reported.

By February 2022 as world leaders implored him not to invade Ukraine Putin was having his in-person meetings at an extraordinarily long table.

Bizarre footage of Putin meeting with his defense minister on April 21 showed the president gripping the edge of the table, looking uncomfortable and fidgety, as Newsweek reported.

Along with his bloated appearance, the video prompted a welter of tabloidspeculation none of which was confirmed that he could be suffering from the effects of steroid treatment or Parkinson's disease.

Further unverified rumors were emanated from an anonymous Telegram account claiming to be a former Kremlin insider.

In early May, New Lines Magazine obtained a recording of an unnamed Russian oligarch saying that Putin "is very ill with blood cancer."

The oligarch, who did not know he was being recorded, went on to criticize Putin's invasion of Ukraine, saying that "we all hope" he dies, and that "the problem is with his head."

Ukrainian intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told Sky News on May 14 that plans to overthrow Putin were in motion within Russia, and that the 69-year-old was in a "very bad psychological and physical condition and he is very sick."

Putin is sick with cancer, Budanov said. He denied trying to spread that idea for propaganda to advantage Ukraine, but did not provide evidence for his claims.

The former head of Britain's MI6 spy agency, Richard Dearlove, suggested on a podcast Putin has long-term illness by saying he will be "gone" by the end of the year, and would be put into "the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia."

Former MI6 Russia bureau chief Christopher Steele also said in an interview with British talk radio station LBC that Putin is "increasingly ill," to an extent that is affecting his leadership in the Kremlin and managing the war in Ukraine.

He said that Putin often has to take breaks from meetings to receive medical treatment.

Steele compiled the partially discredited Trump-Russia dossier that contained the explosive "pee tape" allegation, whose existence has never been confirmed.

Western officials cast doubt on numerous rumors about Putin and how his health affected his leadership. The comments came after Budanov claimed there had been a failed assassination attempt on Putin two months prior.

But the officials, who spoke anonymously, made no confirmation either way about Putin's health but called it "speculation." They also refused to confirm the assassination claim.

One said: "President Putin is firmly in control of his inner circle, the country, and the decisions which are being made, irrespective of any speculation about his health."

In an interview published May 24 with Ukrainian newspaper Pravda, Budanov claimed that he can "fully confirm" that Putin has cancer. He did not offer any evidence for his claims, however.

"He has several serious illnesses, one of which is cancer," Budanov said.

"But it is not worth hoping that Putin will die tomorrow. He has at least a few more years," he added. "Like it or not, but it's true."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told French TV station TF1, according to Russian news agency TASS: "President Vladimir Putin makes public appearances on a daily basis. You can see him on TV screens, read and listen to his speeches.

"I don't think that a sane person can suspect any signs of an illness or ailment in this man.

"I'll leave it on the conscience of those who disseminate such rumors despite daily opportunities for everyone to see how he and others look like."

Three US intelligence and military experts also told Insider's John HaltiwangerandMattathias Schwartz that they are not taking the claims of illness very seriously, citing a lack of evidence.

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Timeline shows years of Putin alleged health problems - Business Insider

If Putin were to restore to nuclear arms, the MI6 veteran claimed, "radioactive contamination would spread to Russian land".

That, he suggested, might be reason enough to prevent such an escalation.

Sir John's reference to the natural damage brought by the use of weapons echoes claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday about the environmental price of Russia's war.

He told an audience at the Globsec security conference in Bratislava that the military's conflict isn't just a human horror, but an ecological disaster, too.

Speaking via video link, Mr Zelensky said: "Let us again remember the significance of the Danube river, this is the source of prosperity for various cities: Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest.

"To make sure the Danube remains clean and safe to ensure that its economic potential, including transport potential, is in full swing, we need cooperation from all countries which have received this great gift of nature."

Ukraine LIVE:Sending your soldiers to die! Putin faces mutiny

The Danube River runs through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania, along with Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky continued: "The pollutants can contaminate not only the rivers of Ukraine but also the Black and Azov Seas.

"The threats to the entire humanity is just impossible to be organised in a comprehensive way without being cognisant of what is taking place on water."

Sir John, who headed the MI6 between 2009 and 2014, dubbed the invasion of Ukraine "the most dangerous crisis since the Cold War".

While acknowledging the threats of Russia's "military power", which include "a huge nuclear arsenal", the former intelligence head said the chances of Putin triggering a nuclear escalation had decreased considerably since the conflict began.

His predictions are in line with those of top NATO and US officials who say the war is likely to end at the negotiating table but stress the need for Kyiv to be able to defend itself to strengthen its position at peace talks.

At a joint news conference in Washington on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said how the fighting evolves will impact any future negotiations.

Mr Stoltenberg told reporters: "Wars are unpredictable.

"We were able to predict the invasion, but how this war will evolve, it's very hard to predict.

"What we do know is that almost all wars end at some stage at the negotiating table."

Mr Blinken said: "We can't say when, we can't say exactly how.

"What we can say is what we will do to make sure that Ukraine has the means to defend itself and has the strongest possible hand at every step along the way."

The full-scale Russian invasion, which is hitting the 100-day mark on Friday, was launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24.

It has led to the deaths of thousands of people, devastated cities and towns and triggered a massive exodus of more than six million Ukrainians.

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Putin warned: 'Radioactive contamination would spread to Russian land' - Express