Joe Biden proclaimed “unwavering” support for the defence of Ukraine and Nato on Tuesday, telling Vladimir Putin there would “never be a victory for Russia” in the conflict.
In a speech in Warsaw, the US president hailed the steely resolve of Kyiv less than 24 hours after his surprise visit.
One year ago, the world was “bracing” for Ukraine to fall to Moscow forces, Mr Biden said.
“I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free.”
His address at Poland’s royal castle came as:
- Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with Washington
- The Russian president accused the West of starting the war and of eroding family values by promoting same-sex marriage and paedophilia
- He said sanctions had failed to harm Russia
- Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said Putin’s nuclear move ‘makes the world more dangerous’
President Biden said Moscow’s invasion nearly one year ago was a “test” of not just Ukraine, but of the world’s democracies and of Nato.
Mr Putin had thought the West would “roll over” while his tanks rolled easily into Kyiv.
“He was wrong,” Mr Biden said. “The Ukrainian people are too brave. America, Europe, a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we were too unified. Democracy was too strong”.
“He thought he'd get the Finland-isation of Nato. Instead, he got the Nato-isation of Finland – and Sweden. He thought Nato would fracture and divide, instead Nato was more united and more unified than ever before,” Mr Biden said.
“Brutality will never grind down the will of the free, and Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never.”
President Biden also returned to a theme he’d touched on in the speech he delivered from the same castle grounds 11 months ago, when he cast Russia’s war against Ukraine as just one battle in a war of autocracies against the forces of the West’s democracies, and said Mr Putin had wrongly believed that the leaders of the world’s democratic governments were “soft” compared to “tough” autocrats like himself.
Instead, he said Mr Putin had “met the iron will of America and nations everywhere that refuse to accept a world governed by fear and force”.
“President Putin is confronted with something today that he didn't think was possible a year ago. The democracies of the world have grown stronger, not weaker, but the autocrats of the world have grown weaker, not stronger,” he said.
He said Mr Putin “no longer doubts” the strength of the western coalition at the war’s one-year mark. But he warned that the Russian leader “still doubts our conviction” and ”doubts our staying power”.
“He doubts our continued support for Ukraine,” the US president said. “He doubts whether Nato can remain unified. But there should be no doubt our support for Ukraine will not waver, Nato will not be divided, and we will not tire.”
Mr Putin’s “craven lust for land and power will fail” while Ukrainians’ “love for their country will prevail” as the world’s democracies “stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever”, Mr Biden added.
The speech came after he used his trip to Kyiv to announce another $450bn (£372bn) in US defence assistance for Ukraine, including artillery ammunition, Javelin anti-tank rockets, and air defence radar systems.
The surprise visit, his first since the outbreak of war last year, was conducted under utmost secrecy. Only two American journalists – one reporter and one photographer – were permitted to accompany him as he traveled from Washington to Poland by air, and then on to Kyiv by train.
Alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, Mr Biden said Kyiv “has captured a part of [his] heart”.
