This morning, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky questioned Anthony Blinken in a Senate hearing about the current U.S. policy concerning the Ukraine-Russia War. In his comments, Paul stressed the impossibility of Ukraine’s war aims—which Kiev defines as the retaking of all territory controlled by Ukraine prior to 2014—as well as the continued hampering of peace talks by the Western insistence that post-war Ukrainian neutrality is off the table. 

The Kentucky senator, quoting Petr Pavel, the president of Czechia and former head of NATO’s military committee, said “It is naive to think that Ukraine will be able to regain the occupied territories from Russia.” Paul also referred to the characterization of the war a “stalemate” by the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military, Valery Zaluzhny; he argued that the current Russian superiority in men and materiel prevents any resolution to the conflict more favorable to Kiev. Paul suggested that the most likely outcome of the war would be something like the partition of the Korean peninsula.

Paul claimed that the current position of the Biden administration, that Ukraine must be allowed to align with the West after the conflict, is actively undermining the chance for a peaceful settlement. He described Ukraine’s potential future neutrality as “one of the few negotiating items Ukraine possesses” and highlighted how the promise of Ukrainian neutrality might serve as the basis for a peace deal.

Blinken did not reply to Paul’s comments on Ukraine in the hearing, though he did reply on the subject of sanctions directed towards China, stating that he was engaged in talks with the Chinese leader about their possible lifting in the future.