Putin's playbook against Ukraine will not work: US

BUCHAREST, Romania

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy against Ukraine will fail.

"(Here is) President Putin's playbook: Freeze and starve Ukrainians, force them from their homes. Drive up energy, food, and household cost not only across Europe but around the world," said Blinken, speaking in Romania's capital Bucharest.

“Putin thinks that if he can just raise the cost high enough, the world would abandon Ukraine. That we will leave them to defend themselves. His strategy has not and will not work, that is what I heard from every country in Bucharest,” he told reporters at the end of a NATO meeting.

On day one of the conference, Blinken announced that US will provide Ukraine with over $53 million to help the war-torn country through what promises to be a biting winter made worse by Russian attacks on critical energy infrastructure.

The new aid is intended to help Ukraine acquire equipment to support its badly damaged energy grids.

During a two-day NATO foreign ministers' conference that began Tuesday, the member states’ top diplomats discussed the war in Ukraine, the accession process of Finland and Sweden, and cooperation with non-members Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Moldova.

Türkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also attended the meeting.