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The invasion Vladimir Putin thought would last days is now in its fourth month. The Ukrainian people surprised Russia and inspired the world with their sacrifice, grit and battlefield success. The free world and many other nations, led by the United States, rallied to Ukraine’s side with unprecedented military, humanitarian and financial support.

As the war goes on, I want to be clear about the aims of the United States in these efforts.

America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression.

As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said, ultimately this war “will only definitively end through diplomacy.” Every negotiation reflects the facts on the ground. We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.

That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.

We will continue cooperating with our allies and partners on Russian sanctions, the toughest ever imposed on a major economy. We will continue providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, powerful artillery and precision rocket systems, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition. We will also send billions more in financial assistance, as authorized by Congress. We will work with our allies and partners to address the global food crisis that Russia’s aggression is worsening. And we will help our European allies and others reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and speed our transition to a clean energy future.

We will also continue reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank with forces and capabilities from the United States and other allies. And just recently, I welcomed Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join NATO, a move that will strengthen overall U.S. and trans-Atlantic security by adding two democratic and highly capable military partners.

We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia. As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow. So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces. We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.

My principle throughout this crisis has been “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” I will not pressure the Ukrainian government — in private or public — to make any territorial concessions. It would be wrong and contrary to well-settled principles to do so.

Ukraine’s talks with Russia are not stalled because Ukraine has turned its back on diplomacy. They are stalled because Russia continues to wage a war to take control of as much of Ukraine as it can. The United States will continue to work to strengthen Ukraine and support its efforts to achieve a negotiated end to the conflict.

Unprovoked aggression, the bombing of maternity hospitals and centers of culture, and the forced displacement of millions of people make the war in Ukraine a profound moral issue. I met with Ukrainian refugees in Poland — women and children who were unsure what their lives would be, and whether the loved ones who stayed behind in Ukraine would be OK. No person of conscience could be unmoved by the devastation of these horrors.

Standing by Ukraine in its hour of need is not just the right thing to do. It is in our vital national interests to ensure a peaceful and stable Europe and to make it clear that might does not make right. If Russia does not pay a heavy price for its actions, it will send a message to other would-be aggressors that they too can seize territory and subjugate other countries. It will put the survival of other peaceful democracies at risk. And it could mark the end of the rules-based international order and open the door to aggression elsewhere, with catastrophic consequences the world over.

I know many people around the world are concerned about the use of nuclear weapons. We currently see no indication that Russia has intent to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, though Russia’s occasional rhetoric to rattle the nuclear saber is itself dangerous and extremely irresponsible. Let me be clear: Any use of nuclear weapons in this conflict on any scale would be completely unacceptable to us as well as the rest of the world and would entail severe consequences.

Americans will stay the course with the Ukrainian people because we understand that freedom is not free. That’s what we have always done whenever the enemies of freedom seek to bully and oppress innocent people, and it is what we are doing now. Vladimir Putin did not expect this degree of unity or the strength of our response. He was mistaken. If he expects that we will waver or fracture in the months to come, he is equally mistaken.

Boris Johnson has insisted the UK must continue to show its support for Ukraine.

He said today: “The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch and it is vital for us to show what we know to be true which is that Ukraine can win and will win.

“When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need.”

A “large column of smoke” can be seen over a Topaz plant in Russian-occupied Donetsk, according to Belarusian media outlet Nexta.

Britons on the streets of Nottingham earlier this month told Express.co.uk the West should be encouraging more peace talks between Ukraine and Russia to bring the conflict to an end.

Some argued that the UK should be wary about getting too involved in the war and should, for example, cease sending arms.

Pensioner Barbara Finch said the delivery of weapons supported the notion that the “human race does not learn its lessons”.

Septuagenarian Stewart Crisp added that he fears Ukraine will become a land of “ongoing warfare”, like Syria, where the UK has also been criticised for the shape of its involvement.

Read more here.

As well as appearing to be snubbed by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in yesterday gathering of the annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (see below), Vladimir Putin is said to have received a “tepid” response when discussing the war in Ukraine.

Max Seddon commented in a post on Twitter that most officials at the event had done their “utmost” to avoid the subject.

When the Kremlin leader declared that “all of [the war’s] tasks will be undoubtedly be met”, Mr Seddon added that there was only “tepid applause”.

Read more here.

Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was down to 41.1million cubic metres today.

Yesterday, it stood at 41.9mcm.

The Russian gas producer, cited in Reuters, said it had made an application to supply gas via another entry point, but this was rejected by Ukraine.

In its latest intelligence update on the war in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said Russia had “likely renewed its efforts to advance south of Izium, with the goal of advancing deeper into the Donetsk Oblast, and to envelop the Sieverodonetsk Pocket from the north”.

UK Ministry of Defence update. (Image: Twitter/@DefenceHQ)

Boris Johnson received a warm welcome in Kyiv yesterday, where he met with Volodymyr Zelensky for the second time since the beginning of the war.

But in England, Tories were left frustrated by a late event cancellation.

The Prime Minister was scheduled to make a Wakefield by-election campaign visit and to engage in a Q&A session with Northern Tories.

Christopher Hope of the Telegraph quoted one Northern Research Group source in a post on Twitter as fuming: “Sadly, today’s events show the PM has no commitment to levelling up, his voters, or the North of England. He is burning through goodwill, and looks scared to come and engage with the very group who delivered for him during the vote.”

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has since sprung to Mr Johnson’s… defence.

He wrote in a post on Twitter that the Kyiv visit was “organised in total secrecy”, as are all such events, and that “as a Northern MP myself, I am not affronted by the fact he had to cancel speaking at the conference”.

Mr Wallace added: “As a northern MP I am proud that Britain has been at the forefront of the international effort to support Ukriane.”

He dismissed backlash to the change of scheduling as “a lot of rubbish”.

So there is a lot of rubbish being spouted about the PMu2019s trip to Ukriane. 1. Firstly these trips are organised in total secrecy. Very few, and i mean very few, people know the dates and arrangements. Russia is still launching missile strikes right across Ukriane . 1/5

u2014 Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) June 17, 2022

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged the West not to suggest “peace initiatives with unacceptable terms”.

Writing in the Odessa Journal, he said such proposals “are premised on the idea that, no matter how well Ukrainians fight, they cannot defeat Moscow’s forces”.

This, Mr Kuleba argued, “is wrong”.

He drew particular attention to Emmanuel Macron’s claim that the West “must not humiliate Russia” so it can “build an exit ramp” for the country after the war.

Few were keen to broach the subject of the war in Ukraine yesterday at the annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, according to reports.

When Vladimir Putin did so, one of his claims was rejected by a key ally onstage.

The Kremlin leader argued the invasion was justified because he was protecting Russian-speakers in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk peoples’ republics of eastern Ukraine, which Russia recognised as independent ahead of the “special military operation”.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, sat beside him, signalled that he disagreed.

He, quoted in Bloomberg, said Kazakhstan does not recognise “quasi-state territories which, in our view, is what Luhansk and Donetsk are”, and added there would be “chaos” in the world hundreds of new countries emerged.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. (Image: Getty)