The president of the United States delivered a speech from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle in Poland, a day after making an unannounced visit to Kyiv. The speech came hours after Mr. Putin charged the West of starting the war in a state of the nation address in Russia.
Joe Biden has stated that Vladimir Putin expected his enemies to “roll over” when he invaded Ukraine but was met with the “iron will” of its allies, as the Russian president suspended an important nuclear treaty with the United States after accusing the West of starting the war.
Just hours after Mr. Putin delivered a state of the nation address in Russia, the American president gave a historic address from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle.
Mr. Biden spoke in the Polish capital one day after his highly secretive and historic trip to Kyiv, Ukraine.
“I can report that Kyiv is standing tall, proud, strong, and most crucially, free,” Mr. Biden said Tuesday night.
Mr. Putin earlier blamed the West for starting the Ukraine war and said his country retaliated violently “to stop it.”
Before Russia invaded its neighbor on February 24 of last year, he added, Ukraine had been in talks with the West about arms supplies.
Mr. Putin stated, “I would like to emphasize that when Russia attempted to find a peaceful solution. It was playing with human lives and engaging in a dirty game.”
Biden asserts that democracy was too powerful.
As the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches, both leaders delivered speeches presenting starkly divergent perspectives of the war.
Before ordering the full-scale offensive, Mr. Biden repeatedly accused Mr. Putin of underestimating Ukraine and NATO’s strength.
The president of the United States stated, “When Russia invaded Ukraine, the entire world was put to the test. All democracies were put to the test.”
“The questions we faced were both straightforward and profound. Would we respond or ignore the situation?
“Would we be strong or would we be weak?”
Mr. Biden continued, “After a year, we now know the answer.
We responded, we would be strong and united, and the world would not turn a blind eye.
Mr. Biden stated, “President Putin ordered his tanks into Ukraine because he believed we would capitulate. He was in error.
“The Ukrainian people were incredibly valiant. America, and Europe, a coalition of nations stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, were overly unified.
“Democracy was far too powerful. Putin left with smoldering tanks and Russia’s forces in disarray, as opposed to the simple victory he had anticipated.
Instead of the expected Finlandization of NATO, he received the NATO-ization of Finland and Sweden.
Finlandization refers to a country’s decision not to challenge a more powerful neighbor in international politics while maintaining national sovereignty.
The autocrats have become weaker.
“He believed NATO would fragment and split. Mr. Biden continued, “Instead, NATO was more united and unified than ever before.”
“He believed autocrats like himself were tough and democratic leaders were weak, but then he encountered the iron will of America and nations worldwide who refused to accept a world ruled by fear and force.”
Mr. Biden added, “President Putin is faced with a situation that he did not believe was possible a year ago.
The world’s democracies have grown stronger, not weaker, while autocracies have grown weaker, not stronger.
Mr. Biden further stated that Russia had committed “horrendous” crimes in Ukraine by targeting civilians with “death and destruction” and by using rape as a “weapon of war.”
In addition, he claimed that Russian forces stole Ukrainian children and bombed maternity hospitals and orphanages.
Mr. Biden insisted that the United States support for Ukraine will never wane.
Russia asserts that the West “let the genie out of the bottle.”
Mr. Putin stated in his address hours before Mr. Biden’s that Russia had decided to “protect its people and history” by conducting a “special military operation step-by-step” and warned that Moscow will “continue to resolve the objectives before us.
Since its inception a year ago, the Russian president has consistently referred to the invasion as a “special military operation.”
“I would like to reiterate that they initiated the war and we used force to end it,” he stated.
Mr. Putin also declared the suspension of Russia’s participation in a key nuclear treaty with the United States that restricts the two countries’ strategic nuclear arsenals.
The number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy is limited by the New START treaty.
Mr. Putin stated that Russia was not withdrawing completely from the treaty and that Moscow must be prepared to resume nuclear weapons testing if the United States does so.
The Russian president accused the West of “releasing the genie from the bottle” ten years before the war by initiating other conflicts.
He claimed that Western nations portrayed Russia as a state enemy to divert attention from the corruption and socioeconomic issues in their nations.
Before the operation began, Mr. Putin also claimed that the West was “in negotiations” regarding the “supply of heavy military equipment, aircraft, and anti-aircraft missile systems.”
Despite three major battlefield losses since the war began, Russian troops still control one-fifth of Ukraine.
In his expansive address, the Russian president claimed that millions of people in the West are being “led to a real spiritual catastrophe” by the “Anglican Church’s plan to consider the concept of a gender-neutral God.”
Vice President Biden unveiled a $500 million (£413 million) US military aid package in Kiev on Monday. He announced as he walked through the city with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr. Biden stated that Mr. Putin believed Ukraine to be “weak and the West to be divided” and that he “thought he could outlast us,” but that he was “dead wrong.”
Mr. Zelenskyy stated that he and Mr. Biden discussed long-range weapons and described negotiations as “very fruitful.”
