While Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said earlier that Moscow was still ready for negotiations on Ukraine and ready to listen to the West’s proposals to ease tensions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that The United States prefers providing weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv government over reconciliation-themed diplomatic contacts with Russia.

In Blinken’s opinion, “there has to be a just and durable peace” in Ukraine. “Just in the sense that it reflects the principles of the United Nations Charter. If it’s a peace that allows Russia to keep all the territory seized by force, that’s not justice,” the secretary of state said. He also explained that by ‘durable,’ he implied “that no one wants to see Russia repeat this a year or two or three years later.”

“With those principles in mind, every day we are looking for ways to see if we can bring the war to an end. I see no evidence that right now Russia is interested in a diplomatic resolution and negotiation that would end this war,” Blinken told reporters during his visit to Niger’s capital Niamey on thursday.

“And so the quickest way to end it is to continue to support Ukraine so that it is strong on the battlefield <…> so that hopefully, at some point, Mr. Putin recognizes the reality that this has to stop, that he’s not going to succeed. And he’s prepared for diplomacy and for negotiation. When that day comes we’ll be the first to engage to try to end things. But as I said, in this moment, at least, I don’t see any evidence of that,” he said.