'Our Support For Ukraine Will Not Waver, NATO Will Not Be Divided:' Biden
President Joe Biden has vowed that the United States’ support for Ukraine will not waver, and NATO will not be divided.
“The United States has assembled a worldwide coalition of more than 50 nations to get critical weapons and supplies to the brave Ukrainian fighters on the frontlines. The European Union and its member states have stepped up with unprecedented commitment to Ukraine, not just in security assistance, but economic, humanitarian, and refugee assistance.”
He made this statement in his speech in the Polish capital Warsaw; hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his State of the Nation address.
Putin announced he is suspending Russia’s participation in the START arms control pact with the United States.
Biden said autocrats understood only one word: “No, no, no!”
“A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to erase the people’s love of liberty. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. And Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia”.
“When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. He was wrong,” Biden said, vowing that NATO was more united than ever. .
“America, Europe, a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific — we were too unified”.
“Instead of an easy victory he perceived and predicted, Putin left with burnt-out tanks and Russia’s forces in disarray”.
Biden said the U.S. Government is going to announce more sanctions against Russia this week together with its partners.
He narrated the list of “extraordinary brutality” committed by “Russian forces and mercenaries” since their invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
“They have committed depravities, crimes against humanity, without shame or compunction. They’ve targeted civilians with death and destruction. Used rape as a weapon of war. Stolen Ukrainian children in an attempt to steal Ukraine’s future. Bombed train stations, maternity hospitals, schools, and orphanages”.
Biden said Ukrainian fighters have reclaimed more than 50 percent of the territory Russia held last year.
Replying to Putin’s accusation that the West provoked the war against Ukraine and escalated the conflict, Biden said, “The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today. And millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy”.
He thanked Poland for hosting more than 1.5 million refugees who fled the war in Ukraine.
Biden earlier met Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace. Biden arrived in Warsaw on Monday after his surprise visit to Kyiv, where he announced the latest tranche of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Biden will meet with the leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of the United States’ eastern flank NATO Allies.
He is also scheduled to meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to reaffirm the United States’ unwavering support for the security of the Alliance, the White House said.
Biden will fly back home later in the day.
Source: Read Full Article