US President Joe Biden vows Russia will never see victory in Ukraine, delivering a major speech in Warsaw hours after Russia’s Vladimir Putin said his country would continue its nearly year-long military offensive.<\/p>\n
Putin, in his annual state-of-the-nation address, accused the West of escalating the conflict and announced the Kremlin would suspend participation in the New START nuclear arms treaty with Washington.<\/p>\n
The Russian president said increasingly stringent sanctions on the country “will not succeed” and vowed Russia would keep fighting to “systematically” achieve its aims.<\/p>\n
Speaking hours later in the capital of NATO ally Poland, Biden pledged that “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia — never.”<\/p>\n
The 80-year-old leader had a day earlier made a surprise visit to Kyiv, his first since the invasion began and just days before the war’s one-year anniversary.<\/p>\n
Surrounded by a flag-waving crowd outside Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Biden responded directly to Putin’s accusations, saying the West “is not plotting to attack Russia”.<\/p>\n
He said Putin “thought autocrats like himself were tough” but faced the “iron will” of the United States and its partners.<\/p>\n
“There should be no doubt: our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided and we will not tire.”<\/p>\n
Biden earlier met Polish President Andrzej Duda, saying his visit had come “at a critical moment”.<\/p>\n
He also reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” commitment to NATO’s principle of collective defence.<\/p>\n
Duda said that thanks to Biden “we can see that America can keep the world order”.<\/p>\n
– ‘Irresponsible’ –<\/p>\n
Putin’s decision to suspend participation in New START was met with widespread international condemnation, though Russia’s foreign ministry later said Moscow would continue to comply with the treaty’s restrictions in a “responsible approach”.<\/p>\n
The 2010 deal is the last remaining arms control treaty between the world’s two main nuclear powers.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia’s decision was “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible” but that Washington was still willing to talk about the issue.<\/p>\n
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the move meant that “the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled”.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden for his speech in a tweet, as well as “all of America for their leadership in rallying the world in support of freedom and for their vital assistance to Ukraine.”<\/p>\n
“We all stand united and brave — Ukraine, USA and our entire coalition of victory.”<\/p>\n
Zelensky met Tuesday in Kyiv with another coalition partner, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.<\/p>\n
While facing some pro-Russian sentiment in her right-wing ruling coalition, Meloni pledged that Rome “does not intend to waver” in its support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
However, sending fighter jets, which Zelensky has argued are vital for ending the war, is “not on the table” for now, she said.<\/p>\n
– ‘Critical moment’ –<\/p>\n
Biden is due to meet Wednesday with the leaders of nine eastern NATO members who — though staunch supporters of Ukraine — fear the war spilling over.<\/p>\n
When the Kremlin launched its Ukraine offensive, the so-called “special military operation” was planned to be a rapid conquest leading to capitulation and the installation of a pro-Russian regime.<\/p>\n
Since then, Russia has been forced to give up ground but has kept up a barrage of drone and missile attacks, while the military and civilian toll has spiralled.<\/p>\n
Various Western sources estimate the conflict has caused 150,000 casualties on each side.<\/p>\n
Zelensky blasted Russia for “mercilessly killing” civilians Tuesday in the southern city of Kherson as local officials reported at least five deaths following strikes there.<\/p>\n
AFP reporters saw dead bodies covered with plastic sheets or foil blankets on the streets near a bus stop and a supermarket.<\/p>\n
Kherson is the capital of one of the four regions — along with Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia — that Russia claims to have annexed but has never fully controlled.<\/p>\n
In Donetsk, Moscow’s relentless struggle to capture the city of Bakhmut has exposed tensions between the Russian military and the Wagner mercenary group.<\/p>\n
The private fighting force’s head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Tuesday accused military chiefs of refusing to sufficiently supply his group, saying this amounted to “treason”.<\/p>\n
Russia’s defence ministry responded by detailing ammunition deliveries and denouncing “absolutely false” reports of shortages.<\/p>\n
– ‘Getting out of control’ –<\/p>\n
China meanwhile said it was “deeply concerned” about the conflict, which it said was “intensifying and even getting out of control”.<\/p>\n
Beijing has sought to position itself as a neutral party, while maintaining close ties with strategic ally Russia.<\/p>\n
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, was in Moscow for talks, and due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin has said Wang may also meet Putin during his visit, according to the official TASS news agency.<\/p>\n
Stoltenberg on Tuesday echoed US concerns that China could supply Russia with weapons to help it pursue its campaign in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The Western allies worry they are falling behind in supplying enough shells for Kyiv’s artillery to fend off a renewed Russian offensive.BSS\/AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Joe Biden vows Russia will never see victory in Ukraine, delivering a major speech in Warsaw hours after Russia’s Vladimir Putin said his country would continue its nearly year-long military offensive. Putin, in his annual state-of-the-nation address, accused the West of escalating the conflict and announced the Kremlin would suspend participation in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4","category-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31687,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31685\/revisions\/31687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}