Russia must be punished for Ukraine war: Antony Blinken

A Ukrainian serviceman fires a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions, near the frontline town of Bakhmut Thursday. Pic/AFP

Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday after meeting counterparts from India, Japan and Australia in New Delhi. The Quad, in a statement, also said use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was "inadmissible". Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests. "If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it's doing in Ukraine, then that's a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too," Blinken told a forum.

Also Read: ‘Suspended nuclear pact because U.S. was using it to help Ukraine'

A day earlier in New Delhi, Blinken met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the first time since the Ukraine war began. In the brief encounter, Blinken urged Moscow to end the war and reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior U.S. official said. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke for less than 10 minutes and did not engage in negotiations, Russian news agencies reported. The United States and allies called on member countries to keep pressuring Russia to end the conflict, but G20 was unable to agree to a statement on the war due to opposition from Russia, which calls its actions a "special military operation", and China.

‘Bakhmut effectively surrounded'

Russian troops and mercenaries were closing the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday, the cusp of Moscow's first major victory in half a year after the bloodiest fighting of the war. Russia's Wagner private army's head said the city, was now completely surrounded, with only one route out left open for Ukraine's troops.

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