'Kyiv stands tall': Biden vows to remain steadfast against Putin in Ukraine

Christian Datoc

February 21, 12:54 PM February 21, 12:54 PM

President Joe Biden sought to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine and targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech delivered in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday.

Biden's remarks, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, came one day after a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he visited with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Earlier on Tuesday, Biden held bilateral talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.

SEE IT: BIDEN VISITS UKRAINE AHEAD OF ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIAN INVASION

"I've just come from a visit to Kyiv," the president declared in his opening remarks. "Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall, and, most importantly, it stands free."

"When Russia invaded, it wasn't just Ukraine being tested. The whole world faced a test for the ages. Europe was being tested. America was being tested. NATO was being tested. All democracies were being tested. The questions we faced are as simple as they were profound. Would we respond?" he said. "One year later, we know the answers. Yes, we would stand up for sovereignty, and we did. Yes, we would stand up for the right of people to live free from aggression, and we did, and we will stand up for democracy, and we did. And yesterday, I had the honor to stand with President Zelensky in Kyiv to declare that we will keep standing up for these same things, no matter what."

Biden named Putin multiple times throughout his remarks and contrasted his miscalculations in the lead-up to the war with the "courage" of Zelensky, "forged" through "fire and steel."

"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 gotten weaker, not stronger," he said.

The Biden administration has stopped short of advocating regime change in Russia, but the president demanded that autocrats "must be opposed" on Tuesday.

"Tonight, I speak once more to the people of Russia. The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today. And the millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy," the president said. "This war is never a necessity. It's a tragedy. President Putin chose this war."

Biden's speech came ahead of an expected reelection campaign announcement and as some critics in the U.S. have questioned his handling of the war, specifically his seemingly open-ended pledge to support Ukraine's resistance for "as long as it takes."

National security adviser Jake Sullivan previewed Biden's remarks to reporters Tuesday morning and claimed the president will "speak to the larger contest between those aggressors who are trying to destroy fundamental principles and those democracies who are pulling together to try to uphold them."

"That tells you everything you need to know about who is responsible for this war," Sullivan stated. "This was a war of choice. Putin chose to fight it. He could have chosen not to, and he can choose even now to end it, to go home. No one is attacking Russia. There’s an absurdity to the notion that Russia was under some kind of military threat from Ukraine or anyone else."

Just prior to Biden's speech, the White House released a fact sheet outlining U.S. support for Ukraine throughout the first year of the war.

In total, the U.S. has supplied Ukraine nearly $45 billion in security and other aid, buttressed the country's frequently targeted energy system, and placed or expanded sanctions on more than 2,000 Russian people and entities. Furthermore, Biden said that the U.S. and allies will announce new sanctions next week in conjunction with the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.

The Biden administration, however, has not met Ukraine's request for F-16 fighter jets to patrol the skies over Kyiv and potentially go on the offensive against Russian forces.

You can watch Biden's remarks in full below.