US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said there will be an independent Ukraine “a lot longer than there”s going to be a Vladimir Putin”, as the Russian leader continues his unprovoked invasion of the country, writes CNN.

“One way or the other, Ukraine will be there and at some point Putin won’t”, Blinken told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room”.

The top US diplomat said Tuesday that the US is “working as hard as we can to limit, to stop, to put an end to this war of choice that Russia is committing”.

“We’re doing that through the support we’re providing Ukraine every single day. We’re doing that by the pressure we’re exerting against Russia every single day”, he said, adding that his hope is the death and destruction can be ended “sooner rather than later”.