Joe Biden has denounced Vladimir Putin as a struggle prison, delivering his sharpest rebuke but of the Russian chief simply hours after the Ukrainian president pleaded with Congress to offer extra assist to his nation.
“I feel he’s a struggle prison,” Biden mentioned of Putin on Wednesday.
The president’s remark marked a definite rhetorical shift for the White Home, which had deflected earlier questions on whether or not Putin ought to be thought-about a struggle prison for the Russian navy’s assaults on Ukrainian civilians.
“There’s a course of, and now we have stood up a course of internally – an inside crew – to evaluate and have a look at and consider proof of what we’re seeing occur on the bottom,” the White Home press secretary, Jen Psaki, mentioned earlier this month.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, mentioned Biden’s feedback had been “unacceptable and unforgivable rhetoric”, in line with Russia’s state-owned Tass information company.
Biden’s feedback got here hours after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, delivered an impassioned digital handle to the US Congress. From the besieged capital of Ukraine, Zelenskiy pleaded with lawmakers to do extra to guard his nation in opposition to the brutal Russian invasion, in an emotional enchantment that invoked the painful recollections of Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorists assaults and echoed Martin Luther King’s name for a extra peaceable future.
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The remarks to members of each chambers of Congress got here on day 21 of the battle for Ukraine’s survival that Zelenskiy solid because the frontline of a worldwide combat to guard democratic values.
Carrying his military inexperienced T-shirt, with a Ukrainian flag draped behind him, Zelenskiy was direct: “I name on you to do extra.
“The future of our nation is being determined,” he instructed Congress. “We want you proper now.”
Talking hours after Zelenskiy’s handle, Joe Biden introduced the US would offer Ukraine with an extra $800m in safety help. The help will embody 800 anti-aircraft methods, 9,000 anti-armor methods, 20 million rounds of ammunition and drones to assist Ukraine combat again in opposition to Russian aggression.
Biden applauded Zelenskiy’s “passionate message” to Congress, saying: “He speaks for individuals who have proven exceptional braveness and power within the face of brutal aggression – braveness and power that’s impressed not solely Ukrainians however the whole world.”
Showing by video hyperlink into the Capitol, Zelenskiy requested the US to ship extra navy assist and to impose harsh new sanctions on Russian lawmakers. Borrowing King’s well-known phrases from his “I’ve a dream” speech, Zelenskiy mentioned Ukraine wanted assist defending his air house: “Immediately, I can say ‘I’ve a necessity’: I would like to guard our sky,” he mentioned.
Acknowledging {that a} no-fly zone was a non-starter for the US, Zelenskiy requested the packed auditorium of lawmakers to think about an “various”, together with extra plane and higher weaponry, to assist Ukraine “shut the skies”. Biden didn’t instantly acknowledge Zelenskiy’s request in his personal remarks, however his administration has to date flatly dominated out an possibility of the west imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
The White Home is set to keep away from direct fight between the US and Russian forces – a battle the US president has mentioned would result in “world struggle three”.
In referencing Pearl Harbor and 9/11, assaults on the US that got here from the sky, Zelenskiy requested members of Congress to think about Ukraine’s expertise: “Our nation experiences this day-after-day, proper now, at this second, each night time for 3 weeks now.”
He additionally performed a wrenching video that captured the brutal Russian onslaught, which has turned once-vibrant metropolis streets into city struggle zones. Silence fell over the auditorium because it performed, displaying photographs of the bombs crushing metropolis buildings and civilians, together with kids, bloodied and killed within the Russian assault.
Earlier than and after he spoke, lawmakers gave Zelenskiy a standing ovation. He positioned his hand over his coronary heart in gratitude. He delivered most of his speech in Ukrainian, however made a closing enchantment in English.
“I see no sense in life if it can not cease the deaths,” he mentioned, showing emotional as he spoke of the 100 kids he mentioned have died within the bombardment.
Lawmakers left the auditorium visibly moved by the remarks of the embattled Ukrainian chief, as he rallies his nation and the world from the frontline of what many imagine is probably the most harmful safety menace to Europe for the reason that finish of the second world struggle.
Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, implored the US to ship extra navy help.
“They’re preventing for the free world,” he mentioned. “We’re a superpower. We should always act prefer it.”
Biden has mentioned he speaks to the Ukrainian chief privately practically day-after-day. However on Wednesday, earlier than the US president spoke, Zelenskiy challenged him publicly to do extra to cease the bloodshed.
“You’re the chief of your nice nation. I want you to be the chief of the world,” he mentioned. “Being the chief of the world means to be the chief of peace.”
Saying the extra safety help to Ukraine, Biden pledged that America would stand with Zelenskiy and his individuals within the weeks and months to return.
“I wish to he sincere with you: this could possibly be a protracted and troublesome battle. However the American individuals might be steadfast in our help of the individuals of Ukraine within the face of Putin’s immoral, unethical assaults on civilian populations,” Biden mentioned. “We’re going to proceed to have their backs as they combat for his or her freedom, their democracy, their very survival.”
Greater than 3 million individuals have fled Ukraine for the reason that invasion, inflicting the fastest-growing refugee disaster in Europe for the reason that second world struggle.
Zelenskiy’s speech follows his comparable addresses to the UK parliament, through which he invoked Shakespeare and echoed Winston Churchill’s well-known wartime oration to the Home of Commons about defiance within the face of an amazing aggressor.
On Tuesday, Zelenskiy had appealed to Canada’s parliament, and the nation’s giant Ukrainian diaspora, to rally behind his nation. That night, the prime ministers of Nato allies and Russian neighbors Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia traveled by practice to Kyiv, which was beneath a 35-hour curfew as Russian shells and missiles rained down on the capital, placing residential areas and civilian infrastructure.
The identical day, Zelenskiy acknowledged that Ukraine’s longstanding hope of becoming a member of Nato was unlikely.
“For years, we heard in regards to the apparently open door, however have already additionally heard that we’ll not enter there, and these are truths and have to be acknowledged,” the Ukrainian president mentioned.
A rising refrain of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been publicly pressuring Biden to extend navy assist to Ukraine, together with sending fighter jets and air protection methods. The calls come because the US and allies tighten their financial vice on Russia, apparently main Moscow to show to China for monetary help.
Biden will journey to the Belgian capital, Brussels, subsequent week for a gathering with Nato leaders to debate the disaster in Ukraine and to reassure allies of the US’s dedication to the protection alliance.
