Biden reaffirms commitment to Ukraine in Poland speech, hours after Putin pulls out of nuclear pact
- ‘Our support for Ukraine will not waver, Nato will not be divided and we will not tire,’ US president says in marking invasion’s anniversary
- Earlier, Russian president blames West for turning ‘local conflicts’ into ‘global confrontations’ and suspends arms-control agreement
A day after a surprise visit to Kyiv, US President Joe Biden on Tuesday reiterated “unwavering” support for Ukraine during a speech in Poland ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
“Our support for Ukraine will not waver, Nato will not be divided and we will not tire.”
“President Putin’s lust for land and power will fail and Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail”, he declared in Warsaw, vowing that “democracies in the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever”.
The renewed pitch came just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for turning “local conflicts” into “global confrontations” and announced that he would pull Russia out of its last nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the United States.
In his annual state-of-the-nation address to the Russian parliament, Putin showed no intention of ending the invasion of Ukraine. However, he also declined to lay out any plan to win the war, which Russia had originally assumed would take merely days when it began on February 24, 2022.
Accompanying Biden in Warsaw was Polish President Andrzej Duda, who thanked the US for strengthening Nato to make sure that “it does not cross anybody’s mind to attack our land”.
