U.S. President Joe Biden on Feb. 16, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden made a shock go to to Kyiv, Ukraine Monday in a present of solidarity, almost a 12 months after Russia started its full-scale invasion of the nation.
“Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your go to is an especially necessary signal of assist for all Ukrainians,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Telegram on Monday.
Biden stated in a White Home assertion that he was assembly with Zelenskyy to “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging dedication to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
“I’ll announce one other supply of important gear, together with artillery ammunition, anti-armor programs, and air surveillance radars to assist defend the Ukrainian individuals from aerial bombardments,” he added. “And I’ll share that later this week, we’ll announce extra sanctions in opposition to elites and corporations which can be making an attempt to evade or backfill Russia’s warfare machine.”
The go to comes after a concerted present of worldwide assist from world leaders and politicians in the course of the Munich Safety Convention over latest days.
On Feb. 18, Biden’s second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Harris, introduced that Washington had decided that Russia had dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity in Ukraine, upgrading the U.S. administration’s March pronouncement that Moscow had dedicated warfare crimes.
Biden stated Monday he’ll proceed on to Poland, the place he’ll meet President Andrzej Duda.
The most recent spherical of U.S. sanctions will comply with the EU’s tenth spherical of penalties in opposition to Russia for its warfare in Ukraine. European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated final week that the sanctions will goal exports value 11 billion euros ($11.78 billion), twin use and superior tech items, in addition to Russian propagandists. The most recent EU bundle is topic to the approval of EU member nations.
NATO Secretary-Common Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday expressed doubts to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble that monetary repercussions will deter Putin, nevertheless.
“What we’ve got seen is that Russia is definitely prepared to pay a tough worth for this warfare,” he stated.
“There aren’t any indicators that President Putin is making ready or planning for peace. He’s making ready for extra warfare, or new offensive, mobilizing extra troops, setting the Russian financial system on a warfare footing and in addition truly reaching out to different authoritarian regimes like North Korea and Iran to get extra weapons.”