Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is warning that Russia might try to find an end run around to a peace deal in its war with Ukraine that would allow it to “rest, refit, regroup, reattack.”

Blinken, speaking at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in Washington on Monday night, said a “a phony off-ramp” to peace would play right into the Russian’s hands.

“One of the things that you can imagine is the Russians trying to find an off-ramp [to peace],” Blinken said in remarks provided by the State Department. “That would be a phony off-ramp, by which I mean, ‘Oh, let’s have a ceasefire, let’s just freeze things in place,’ get a frozen conflict, never negotiate about the territory that they have seized and continue to hold; rest, refit, regroup, reattack.”

He said the war certainly will have a diplomatic conclusion, “but what I think we have to see is a just and durable peace, not a phony peace.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy produced a 10-point plan for peace to nations attending the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November, which included a withdrawal of all Russian troops and release of all prisoners. But Blinken said in response, Russian President Vladimir Putin “doubled and tripled down on what he was doing in Ukraine.”

“The point is this: Unless and until Russia demonstrates that it’s interested in meaningful diplomacy, it can’t go anywhere,” Blinken said. “If and when it does, we’ll be the first to be ready to help out.”

Blinken said Russia is trying to force Ukraine to cry uncle by attacking civilian targets and the country’s energy infrastructure more than military targets. But Blinken said the strategy won’t work.

“I think the resilience of Ukrainians has been extraordinary,” he said. “Fundamentally, the reason that [the Russians] won’t succeed is the Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for their country, for their future; the Russians are not.  And that’s the biggest difference-maker of all — with some significant help [from other nations].”

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