Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Friday took the stage in NATO’s latest member, Finland, to say that additional strengthening Ukraine’s defenses towards Russia was a “prerequisite” for diplomacy to finish the battle in Ukraine and to warn towards short-term cease-fires that may play to Moscow’s benefit.

In a powerfully symbolic tackle on the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland’s capital, Mr. Blinken cataloged the numerous methods the battle by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had backfired since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

He famous, for one, Finland’s determination final yr to interrupt from many years of agency neutrality and be part of the NATO alliance in a major strategic blow to Mr. Putin, who calls NATO’s enlargement a grave risk to Russian safety.

Mr. Putin’s battle “has been a strategic failure — greatly diminishing Russia’s power, its interests and its influence for years to come,” Mr. Blinken mentioned. “When you look at President Putin’s long-term strategic aims and objectives, there is no question: Russia is significantly worse off today than it was before the full-scale invasion — militarily, economically, geopolitically,” he added.

“Where Putin aimed to project strength, he has revealed weakness,” he mentioned. “Where he sought to divide, he has united. What he tried to prevent, he has precipitated.”

Although Mr. Blinken’s speech broke little new floor, its supply from a rustic that shares an 832-mile border with Russia, and that the NATO alliance is now dedicated to defending, amounted to a victory lap prone to embarrass if not infuriate Mr. Putin.

Finland’s official entry into NATO in April, Mr. Blinken mentioned, was “a sea change that would have been unthinkable” earlier than the battle in Ukraine — and one which Mr. Putin had introduced upon himself by invading his neighbor.

Mr. Blinken spoke on the finish of a weeklong journey to Norway, Sweden and Finland that included conferences with NATO officers meant to spotlight Western resolve towards Russia and focus on the alliance’s long-term relationship with Ukraine, which is in search of NATO membership and safety ensures.

Speaking to European leaders on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine argued for his country’s membership in NATO, saying “a clear invitation from members of Ukraine is needed” this yr. But in remarks on Friday he additionally acknowledged that Ukraine couldn’t be part of the alliance as long as it was at battle with Russia.

Both the president of France and Britain’s protection minister have made a similar point in recent days, saying they help Ukraine however that full NATO membership was for the second out of attain.

Mr. Putin has cited NATO’s eastward enlargement as one in every of his justifications for the invasion. On Friday, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, mentioned that Russia would proceed to behave in its nationwide safety pursuits, in response to the state news company Tass.

“This means preventing alliance’s expansion, as well as its obvious advance toward our borders and Ukraine’s possible NATO membership,” he mentioned.

In his 40-minute tackle on Friday, Mr. Blinken made a case for the Biden administration’s eager about the battle, saying that Mr. Putin had unwittingly uncovered and compounded the weak spot of Russia’s army, hobbled its financial system, price it vitality income, and impressed NATO to change into better-funded, extra united — and bigger.

The speech had a typically triumphal tone: At one level, Mr. Blinken joked that Russia’s army, as soon as billed because the second strongest on this planet, was now “the second strongest in Ukraine.” But it additionally included cautionary notes in regards to the lengthy and tough street forward for Ukraine, notably amid what Mr. Blinken predicted can be new requires a halt to the combating.

U.S. officers imagine that if, as anticipated, a coming Ukrainian counteroffensive fails to make dramatic beneficial properties, stress will develop from all over the world to discover a solution to at the very least pause the combating.

“Over the coming months, some countries will call for a cease-fire,” Mr. Blinken mentioned. “On the surface, that sounds sensible — attractive, even. After all, who doesn’t want warring parties to lay down their arms? Who doesn’t want the killing to stop?”

But a cease-fire that freezes present strains in place, with Russia controlling massive areas of Ukrainian territory, he added, “is not a just and lasting peace. It is a Potemkin peace. It would legitimize Russia’s land grab. It would reward the aggressor and punish the victim.”

While insisting that the United States and Ukraine wish to see an finish to the battle, Mr. Blinken warned that Mr. Putin doesn’t appear prepared for good-faith negotiations. The Russian chief has insisted that talks can solely happen as soon as Ukraine accepts Russia’s claims to have annexed 4 of its jap areas.

Samuel Charap, a former State Department official within the Obama administration and a Russia analyst with the RAND Corporation, mentioned that Mr. Blinken could also be setting too excessive a normal.

“If seriousness about talks means willingness to make pre-emptive concessions on territory, Putin will never meet that bar,” Mr. Charap mentioned.

Many U.S. officers imagine that Mr. Putin aspires to realize far higher management of Ukraine than he has now, one thing that can require him to play for time.

The Russian chief is “convinced he can simply outlast Ukraine and its supporters — sending more and more Russians to their deaths, and inflicting more and more suffering on Ukrainian civilians,” Mr. Blinken mentioned. “He thinks even if he loses the short game, he can still win the long game.”

Still, Mr. Blinken added, the United States would help any peace initiative “that helps bring President Putin to the table to engage in meaningful diplomacy,” the secretary of state mentioned. He added that such efforts should embody Russian accountability for wartime atrocities and funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Mr. Blinken mentioned, as he has earlier than, {that a} peace deal must “affirm the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.” But, additionally as earlier than, he didn’t specify whether or not the U.S. believes that Russia should withdraw from all Ukrainian territory — together with the strategic Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 and which many analysts imagine Mr. Putin won’t ever give up.

Mr. Blinken additionally mentioned {that a} real peace deal may open the door to the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia “connected to concrete actions, especially military withdrawal.” And he reiterated that “the U.S. does not seek to overthrow the Russian government.”

Earlier on Friday, Mr. Blinken met with Finland’s departing prime minister, Sanna Marin, and the nation’s international minister, Pekka Haavisto.

Mr. Blinken marveled at Finland’s accession into NATO, suggesting that it amounted a colossal blunder by Mr. Putin, who beforehand had comparatively pleasant relations with Helsinki. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he famous, only one in 4 Finns supported the nation’s becoming a member of NATO. After the invasion, three in 4 Finns supported NATO membership, he mentioned.

Mr. Blinken’s look in Helsinki was all of the extra placing when in comparison with the final time a go to right here by a significant U.S. official made headlines. Five years in the past, President Donald J. Trump traveled to the Finnish capital for a gathering with Mr. Putin — a visit infamous for Mr. Trump’s suggestion, at a news convention alongside the Russian chief, that he trusted Mr. Putin’s denial of interfering within the 2016 election over the conclusions of U.S. intelligence companies.

Earlier within the week, Mr. Blinken visited Sweden, whose bid to hitch the Atlantic alliance has been held up by Turkey, and on Thursday met with allied international ministers in Oslo to debate issues about Ukraine’s long-term safety.

Helsinki was anticipated to be Mr. Blinken’s final cease on a Nordic tour as Russia, China and the NATO nations jockey for stronger positions within the Arctic. Later this yr, the United States will open a mission staffed by a single diplomat within the city of Tromso, Norway — its solely such facility above the Arctic Circle — Mr. Blinken mentioned at a news convention on Thursday.