A New York Times article for the first time reported that Secretary of State Blinken overrode a suggestion by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley for Ukraine to seek peace talks with Russia following some battlefield gains in 2022. “As the war progressed, neither side sought negotiations, so Mr. Blinken was less a peacemaker than a war strategist. Immersed in details of military hardware and battlefield conditions, he often argued against more risk-averse Pentagon officials in favor of sending powerful American weapons to Ukraine. And when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark A. Milley, suggested in late 2022 that Ukraine should capitalize on battlefield gains by seeking peace talks with Moscow, Mr. Blinken insisted the fight should go on,” the article says.