After Putin Doubles Down, Biden Does, Too

Hours after Vladimir Putin doubled down on his nation's war with Ukraine, President Biden gave a speech in Poland in which he did the same on behalf of Kiev. The dueling speeches came on the one-year anniversary of the war's start.

• “Our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided, and we will not tire,” said Biden at Warsaw's historic Royal Castle, per the New York Times. “President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail.”
• Biden accused Russia of "crimes against humanity" during the war, reports the Washington Post. He said Moscow was deliberately targeting civilians—including those at hospitals and orphanages—and using rape as a weapon of war. “They’ve committed depravity, crimes against humanity without shame or compunction,” Biden said. "No one can turn away their eyes from the atrocities Russia is committing against the Ukrainian people. It’s abhorrent."

• Biden warned of “hard and bitter days ahead,” but said the US and its allies would “have Ukraine’s back," per the AP. “Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow, and forever."
• Biden rejected Putin's assertion, made again on Tuesday, that the West started the war. “The West was not plotting to attack Russia,” he said. “This war was never a necessity, it’s a tragedy. President Putin chose this war. Every day the war continues is his choice.”

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