Outgoing US ambassador: We can all still do more for Ukraine

A meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin could give him more credence, George P. Kent, the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Estonia, told ERR. The ambassador added that the U.S. has done more to support Ukraine in the past three years than had been anticipated before Russia's full-scale invasion began, though more can still be done.
The Joe Biden administration has been criticized for not delivering the necessary weapons to Ukraine quickly enough and in the right quantities. Do you agree with this criticism?
Collectively, the other allies and the United States, what we have done for Ukraine was not enough for Ukraine to win. And I think that's what has to be kept in mind – the goal is for Ukraine to win. We all could have done more and we all need to do more going forward.
Will the new administration do more?
The new administration starts next Monday and I think we will have to wait and see what the new policies and initiatives are.
The Trump administration and Trump himself have talked a lot about achieving peace in Ukraine. Is peace possible?
I think peace is possible. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians, who are fighting and dying on their own territory. It's very clear that one person can stop the war and it's the person who started the war and that is Russian president Putin. And he has shown no interest in the last eleven years in ending a war which is, by his design, intended to destroy Ukraine.
Do you agree that meeting with Putin will actually encourage him?
I think whether the meeting is with Russians or with the Russian leader Putin, we'll see about the sequencing. I think there is the concern, that since he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, that particularly allowing him to travel to the countries that support the ICC does lend him some credence.
I think part of the challenge of diplomacy is that you meet not just with your friends but [also] the people you consider adversaries. And an example of that this week is the ceasefire that was announced yesterday between Hamas and Israel.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Michael Cole