Kamala Harris Says West Faces ‘Defining Second’ Over Ukraine
MUNICH — Vice President Kamala Harris instructed the Munich Safety Convention on Saturday that the Western alliance confronted a “defining second” within the Ukraine disaster and warned Russia’s leaders that in the event that they invaded Ukraine, america and its allies would goal not solely monetary establishments and know-how exports to Russia, but additionally “those that are complicit and people who assist and direct this unprovoked invasion.”
The speech was the primary time Ms. Harris has stepped into the hurricane of the diplomacy and signaling surrounding a high-stakes worldwide disaster, so each phrase — and the way she delivered it — was watched with care.
Her textual content hewed intently to the message that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivered on Thursday on the United Nations. “This playbook is all too acquainted to us all,” she mentioned of the occasions unfolding close to Ukraine’s borders. “Russia will plead ignorance and innocence. It can create false pretexts for invasion, and it’ll amass troop and firepower in plain sight.”
“Russia continues to say it’s prepared for talks, whereas on the similar time it narrows the avenues for diplomacy,” Ms. Harris mentioned. “Their actions merely don’t match their phrases,” a phrase that French officers have additionally utilized in denouncing threatening posture by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
The vice chairman met on Saturday afternoon with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who flew to Munich for a number of hours in the mean time his nation faces probably the most acute menace of full invasion in its historical past. A number of Biden administration officers expressed concern about his travels to Germany, saying that they anticipated Russia to say he had fled the nation. A number of apprehensive about whether or not Moscow would attempt to block his return.
However in assembly Ms. Harris and talking on the convention, the place he final appeared two years in the past to speak about cracking down on corruption and bolstering the Ukrainian financial system, Mr. Zelensky hoped to bask for a quick second within the embrace of companions who’ve promised to assist him however have mentioned they won’t ship troops to face the Russian army.
Ms. Harris argued in her speech that the disaster had pushed NATO allies collectively. “As President Biden has mentioned, our forces is not going to be deployed to struggle inside Ukraine,” she mentioned, concerning — however not exploring — the choice to go away the preventing to Ukraine’s personal army. “However they’ll defend each inch of NATO territory.”
Later, the vice chairman added, “our energy should not be underestimated.”