On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that while the United States won’t determine what a win looks like to Ukraine and they have to decide for themselves under what circumstances they’ll negotiate and no one can tell what would drive Vladimir Putin to decide to talk or end the war, they are “focused on helping President Zelensky make that determination.”
Kirby said, “I’d push back…on this idea that we’re afraid of winning or that we certainly don’t want Ukraine to achieve victory. We absolutely believe that they can, and we certainly want them to win, but it’s important that Mr. Zelensky gets to determine what that looks like, what is victory, what is success, and if it ends up at the negotiating table, under what circumstances is he willing to sit down with Mr. Putin, and what would he be willing to negotiate. We’re not going to dictate those terms to him. He’s got to figure that out for himself. And what we want to do is make sure that, in the meantime, we’re giving him all the tools and training he needs to succeed on the battlefield, so that, if and when he sits down at the table, he can do so from a position of strength. Now, what would Mr. Putin do? I don’t think anybody can get accurately inside his brain to know what would drive him to the table or what would drive him to say, okay, I’ve achieved enough success or not. We’re not focused on that. We’re really focused on helping President Zelensky make that determination.”
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