Ukraine conflict "will never be Russia's victory". Biden: We must continue to help Ukraine
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Fresh from an unannounced visit to Ukraine, President Joe Biden rallied NATO allies in Poland on Tuesday, proclaiming "unwavering" support for Kyiv and a commitment to bolstering the alliance's eastern flank.
On a trip clearly timed to overshadow a major speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden met Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of the most vocal proponents of stronger Western support for Ukraine.
Speaking in Warsaw on Tuesday after concluding a previously unannounced trip to Ukraine a day earlier, Biden hailed Ukrainian resistance to what he called Russia’s “aggression”.
“One year after the bombs began to fall and Russian tanks rolled in Ukraine, Ukraine is still independent and free,” Biden said.
He opened his trip on Monday with an unannounced trip to Ukraine, billed as the first time a U.S. president has made such a journey to a country with active military operations without U.S. troops on the ground controlling the area.
Before returning to Washington on Wednesday , Biden will meet leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the countries on NATO's eastern flank, to reaffirm support for their security.
United States President Joe Biden has warned Moscow that the West’s support for Kyiv in its fight against the Russian military operation “will not waver”, vowing that the conflict in Ukraine will never be a win for Russia.
Washington and its allies have provided billions of dollars in military, humanitarian and budgetary aid to Ukraine since the start of the conflict.
Biden spoke from Poland hours after Putin delivered a state-of-the-nation speech, blaming the West for the conflict in Ukraine.
“I would like to repeat: they started the war, and we used force in order to stop it,” Putin said, arguing that Moscow had pushed to end the conflict between separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine, which started in 2014.
The Russian president added that his country will continue to push to “systematically” achieve its aims in Ukraine.
“Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never,” the US president said.
On Tuesday, Biden stressed that Putin is failing in the Ukraine conflict and its strategic aims.
“He thought he’d get the Finland-isation of NATO; instead he got the NATO-isation of Finland and Sweden,” Biden said, referring to the two northern European countries’ push to join the US-led alliance.
Biden also reaffirmed the US commitment to the “sacred oath to defend every inch of NATO territory”. The alliance has a mutual defence pact, meaning an attack on any of its members is considered an attack on all.