Biden urged 2 top officials to tone down Ukraine rhetoric: report

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Joe Biden ordered the heads of the State and Defense departments to tamp down their rhetoric on Ukraine after they said the US wanted Kyiv to win the war against Russia, according to a report published Thursday.

The directive came after Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin made a surprise visit to Kyiv in April. During that trip, Austin said the US believes Ukraine “can win” the war Russia began two months prior “if they have the right equipment.”

Blinken aligned himself with those statements.

Multiple anonymous officials told NBC News that Biden called his senior officials shortly after they took off on separate planes from Poland. During the conference call, Biden told Austin and Blinken that they had gone too far, and ordered them to tone it down.

“Biden was not happy when Blinken and Austin talked about winning in Ukraine,” one official said. “He was not happy with the rhetoric.”

Another official said Blinken and Austin sought to convey that the defense chief’s comments had been misconstrued, according to NBC News.

Biden’s displeasure was reflective of a concern within the administration that despite Ukraine’s success in defending against a Russian push for Kyiv, the conflict would inevitably become a grinding war of attrition with the Kremlin’s forces slowly but steadily making advances.

That has largely become the case in Russia’s offensive on the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas and NBC News said US officials are now quietly but increasingly concerned that the trajectory of the war “is untenable.”

Some are discussing whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should change his position that no territory will ever be ceded to Russia to end the conflict, seven current and former US officials and European officials told NBC. ​​​​​​​