Antony Blinken warns that Putin will open ‘Pandora’s box’ in Ukraine – live | US news

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, is now heading out of his meeting with Nato’s foreign ministers in Brussels and going into one with the European Council, the policy-guiding arm of the European Union.

Before his next meeting, Blinken took a moment to speak to the press along with Josep Borrell, the vice president of the European Commission, and applaud the EU on taking “historic” action, “both with regard to sanctions and support for Ukraine”.

“We are faced together with what is President Putin’s war of choice, a war that was unprovoked and that is having horrific consequences for real people, for mothers, fathers, for children,” Blinken said. “We see the images on TV and it has to stop. We are committed to doing everything we can to make it stop.”

Blinken continued: “We’ve established together, after two world wars, that are so important to keeping peace and security for everyone, principles that President Putin is egregiously violating every single day – the notion that one country can’t simply go in and change the borders of another country by force or take it over, the principle that one country cannot dictate to another the choices that its citizens would make about their future, the principle that we are past the time of spheres of influence where one country subjugates its neighbors to its will.

“All of those things are at stake and if we allow those principles to be challenged as Putin is doing now with impunity, that will open a Pandora’s box of trouble, not just for us, but, quite frankly, for the entire world.”

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, took a strong stance on the war today as he arrived for a meeting of Nato’s foreign ministers in Brussels, condemning what he described as Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

“Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us we are ready for it and we will defend every inch of Nato territory,” Blinken said.

However, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg hedged their position a bit this morning, rejecting Ukraine’s demand for no-fly zones.

“We are not part of this conflict, and we have a responsibility to ensure it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told reporters.

“We understand the desperation but we also believe that if we did that (a no-fly zone) we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe involving much more countries and much more suffering,” Stoltenberg said.

Politico took a look at the cracking opposition to the US agreeing to aiding in a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Right now, Joe Biden is in the tricky position of remaining true to his promise to protect Nato territories without escalating into further war with Russia, while at the same time getting more and more pressure to intervene in a way that won’t lead to boots on the ground.

On Friday. Nato allies rejected Ukraine’s demand for no-fly zones.

“We understand the desperation but we also believe that if we did that (a no-fly zone) we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe involving much more countries and much more suffering,” Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said.

But in Washington, Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger is pushing for a no-fly zone. Politico is reporting that Republican senator Roger Wicker is also in support, as well as Democratic policymakers like Evelyn Farkas, the top official for Ukraine in the Obama Pentagon.

Amid soaring tensions and continuous bloodshed in Ukraine, conservative firebrand Lindsey Graham is calling for the assassination of Vladimir Putin.

The Republican senator from South Carolina made his remarks first on Fox News with Sean Hannity – who has suggested assassinating Putin previously – before repeating his sentiments on Twitter.

Graham’s remarks were met with dismay from both sides of the aisle, with progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeting, “Seriously, wtf?”

Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, also responded by calling Graham’s remarks “an exceptionally bad idea”.

Even far-right extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who won her seat expressing support for the conspiracy theory QAnon, called Graham’s statements “irresponsible, dangerous and unhinged”.

“We need leaders with calm minds and steady wisdom,” she tweeted. “Not blood thirsty warmongering politicians trying to tweet tough by demanding assassinations. Americans don’t want war.”

Greetings, live blog readers. Happy Friday.

Per usual, we’ll have all our live updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine here, so make sure to keep an eye on that.

But on our end, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, took a strong stance on the war today as he arrived for a meeting of Nato’s foreign ministers in Brussels, condemning what he described as Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

“Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us we are ready for it and we will defend every inch of Nato territory,” Blinken said.

Meanwhile in Washington, the Washington Post is reporting that previously unseen documentary footage shows Roger Stone, longtime ally of Donald Trump, working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and secure pardons in the aftermath of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

We’ll have more on that in a bit. Stay tuned.