Biden condemns Putin’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack’
‘The world will hold Russia accountable’: Biden condemns Putin’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack’ as explosions rock Ukraine capital of Kiev and cities in the south and east
‘President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,’ Biden said in a statement Wednesday night Biden said he will be monitoring the situation from Washington, DC , and will continue to get regular updates from his national security teamHe announced he will join G7 counterparts tomorrow morning, and will ‘announce the further consequences the US and its allies will impose on Russia’
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President Biden has condemned Russia‘s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack,’ after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine and told Ukrainian service members to ‘lay down their arms and go home.’
‘President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,’ Biden said in a statement Wednesday night.
‘Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.’
Biden said he will be monitoring the situation from Washington, DC, and will continue to get regular updates from his national security team.
He announced he will join G7 counterparts tomorrow morning, and will address the country later on Thursday to ‘announce the further consequences the United States and its Allies and partners will impose on Russia.’
‘We will also coordinate with our NATO Allies to ensure a strong, united response that deters any aggression against the Alliance. Tonight, Jill and I are praying for the brave and proud people of Ukraine,’ the statement added.
Putin announced the invasion in a 5.50am speech Thursday to the Russian people, saying he wants to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘de-Nazify’ the neighboring country – not occupy it. Putin also gave a chilling warning to the West.
‘To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside – if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history,’ he said on a television broadcast around 6am Moscow time.
Putin said Russia could not exist with a ‘constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine’ as he said clashes between Russian and Ukrainian solders was ‘inevitable’.
Within minutes of his public address, explosions could be heard in the capital city of Kiev as well as the city of Kramatorsk in central Ukraine and Odessa in the south.
President Joe Biden has condemned Russia’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified attack’
Biden said he will be monitoring the situation from DC and will be joining US counterparts on Thursday
Putin has recognized two areas in eastern Ukraine as independent and authorized Russian troops to go in on ‘peacekeeping’ missions. Rebels already hold part of that territory (in red) but Putin has recognized a much-wider region (yellow) amid fears he will now try to seize it. There are also fears he is preparing to attack Kharkiv in Ukraine (green)
In a statement Wednesday, Biden said he will announce ‘the consequences the US and its allies will impose on Russia’
Putin has ordered an invasion of Ukraine and told Ukrainian service members to ‘lay down their arms and go home’
Putin told Russians: ‘I have decided to conduct a special military operation. Russia cannot exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of Ukraine.
‘You and I have been left with no opportunity to protect our people other than the one we use today.’
It comes after explosions were heard near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, as fears mounted that shelling is underway.
Residents in the city, which is located in south eastern Ukraine, have been woken up at 3.30am this morning by blasts 30 miles from the Russian border.
Video footage appeared to show clouds of smoke rising up into the night sky near Mariupol, but it was unconfirmed whether it was as a result of shelling.
Putin earlier this week said he wanted to take the major Azov Sea Port of Mariupol, which handles 50 per cent Ukraine’s steel and mineral exports.
The explosions come just hours after the US warned the Ukrainian government that Putin’s troops are ‘ready to go now’ with an invasion of Ukraine, with 80 per cent of Russian soldiers now assembled around the country in attack positions.
Unconfirmed reports said that Russian forces had destroyed or rendered unusable the Ukrainian navy, and taken control of Boryspil Airport in Kiev.
Access to the Black Sea and Azov Sea was cut off.
Unconfirmed reports on Twitter appeared to show a huge seaborne landing by Russian forces in the Black Sea port of Odessa, involving large landing craft and helicopters shortly before 6am local time.
