"It's hard to put yourself in someone else's mind. I think he's rational, but the decisions he's making - or maybe better put, his objectives - are not rational," Blinken told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos when asked if he thinks Putin is "still rational."
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said, in light of Putin's declaration of martial law in former Ukrainian territory, that the Russian leader finds himself in a difficult position in the Ukraine conflict.
Putin declared martial law in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which have recently joined Russia. The upper house of the Russian parliament approved Putin’s decree later in the day.
A serviceman of Russian private military company Wagner Group shoots from a 122 mm D30 howitzer at the Ukrainian positions, as Russia's military operation in Ukraine continues, in the suburbs of Bakhmut, Donetsk People's Republic
© Sputnik / Viktor Antonyuk
/ The decision was made after Sergei Surovikin, the general in charge of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, said that the situation in the conflict zone is tense and dangerous for locals as Ukrainian forces regularly target civilian infrastructure.
Surovikin also warned of information indicating that Ukraine may strike the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in the Kherson region, causing massive flooding. As a precaution, Kherson authorities announced transfer of civilians from some areas of the region to the left bank of the Dnieper river.