President Joe Biden will use his State of the Union address on Tuesday to say that President Vladimir Putin underestimated NATO and the way the world would rally against his invasion of Ukraine.
‘Putin’s war was premeditated and unprovoked. He rejected efforts at diplomacy,’ he will say, according to excerpts released by the White House.
‘He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home.
‘Putin was wrong. We were ready.’
With the world spotlight on him, Biden will refer to the Russian leader as a dictator and say he is paying the price for his aggression.
‘Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos. They keep moving,’ he will say according to excerpts released by the White House.
‘And, the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising.
‘That’s why the NATO Alliance was created to secure peace and stability in Europe after World War Two. The United States is a member along with 29 other nations.
‘It matters. American diplomacy matters.’
With Ukraine battling Russian invaders for the sixth day, Biden will trumpet the united response of allies who have imposed sweeping sanctions and kept arms flowing to Kyiv.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said he would also lay out more economic action against Moscow.
‘Along with the next steps further tightening the sanctions on the oligarchs who buck up Putin, who benefit from Putin’s regime, and also the next steps in getting humanitarian and military aid to the Ukrainians,’ he told CNN.
With the world spotlight on him, President Biden will use his State of the Union speech to refer to the Russian leader as a dictator and say he is paying the price for his aggression, according to excerpts released by the White House
Biden is expect to say of Putin: ‘He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And, he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.’ And he will trumpet the unity of NATO and other partners
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview in his command bunker, during which he demanded that President Joe Biden use his State of the Union address to deliver a strong and ‘useful’ message about the Russian invasion
Smoke rises around Kyiv’s main television tower after several explosions near the base of it on Tuesday afternoon
The annual speech also gives him a chance to speak directly to the American people about how he plans to lead the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle inflation.
‘We have a choice. One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I have a better plan to fight inflation,’ part of Biden’s speech reads.
‘Lower your costs, not your wages.
‘Make more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America.’
White House officials had already teased that part of the speech.
‘The president will absolutely use the word inflation tomorrow and he will talk about inflation in his speech of course that is a huge issue on the minds of Americans,’ said Press Secretary Jen Psaki a day earlier.
Specifically, Biden will call on Congress to increase the maximum Pell Grant award by $2,000, raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and create a national paid family-leave program.
But Ukraine will be one of the major themes of the night.
Among First Lady Jill Biden’s guests will be Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the US.
Earlier Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged President Joe Biden to deliver a decisive message.
‘It’s very serious … I’m not in a movie,’ Zelensky, a former comedy actor, said during an interview in his command bunker.
‘I’m not iconic, I think Ukraine is iconic … Ukraine is the heart of Europe, and now I think Europe sees Ukraine is something special for this world. That’s why [the] world can’t lose this something special.’
He said he wanted a strong and ‘useful’ message about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the US president, and later tweeted that he had spoken to Biden by phone.
The White House confirmed their conversation and said they had spoken for more than 30 minutes.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova (center) will be a guest of first lady Jill Biden at the State of the Union
There is tight security on Capitol Hill for the State of the Union. Security fences – installed after last year’s Jan 6 violence – have been put back in place. The arrival of a trucker protest has heightened concerns of trouble
An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Russia on Tuesday stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, pounding civilian targets there
Biden said in a tweet: ‘I just spoke with President Zelensky to discuss our continued support for Ukraine – including security assistance and humanitarian aid – as it defends itself against Russian aggression.
‘We will hold Russia accountable, and our sanctions are already having a devastating impact.’
It came after Russia warned civilians to leave the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and explosions erupted around the city’s 1,300ft TV tower in the afternoon.
Several of the city’s neighborhoods were under attack, according to local reports. The Kyiv Independent reported at 23:29 local time (21:29GMT) that Russian bombs had struck Vyshneve, a town outside the capital.
It also said the residential neighbourhoods of Rusanivka, Kurenivka and Boiarka – as well as the area near Kyiv International Airport – were coming under attack. Rusanivka in particular is very central.
But there was good news for the Ukrainian resistance.
Some Russian soldiers are surrendering without a fight and Vladimir Putin’s armored convoy has stalled amid fuel and supply problems, according to a Pentagon official who briefed reporters on Tuesday.
‘A lot of these soldiers are conscripts who have never been in combat before,’ the official told reporters, according to CNN. ‘Some of them, we believe, weren’t even told they were gonna be in combat.’
The advance remains ‘basically…where it was yesterday,’ the senior defense official said of the 40-mile armored column that was making its way towards Kyiv. It remains about 17 miles from the city center. The official adding that as well as fuel issues the troops appeared to be running out of food.
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