Biden's remarks on Russia's invasion of Ukraine


We're coming on the air because president biden is about to address the nation concerning russia's full-scale invasion of ukraine the world now witnessing what's been described as the largest country on country unprovoked assault since world war ii russian forces attacking ukraine from multiple directions at this hour russia has in fact confirmed its ground forces have moved into ukraine explosions reported in or very near several major cities since we were on the air late last night a senior defense official saying about 10 ukrainian airfields have been targeted across the country racial russian special operations forces have backed a large number of helicopters that have landed military air base .

That's just the north of kiev less than 20 miles in fact from the center of the capital there are reports of heavy fighting at this hour ukraine's president zielinski addressing the nation today claiming ukrainian forces are doing well in the donbass region of course that's where putin declared two separatist regions independent zolensky of course on the left-hand side of your screen saying at this point the most problematic situation as he sees it he's in the south here's president biden the russian military has begun a brutal assault on the people of ukraine without provocation without justification without necessity this is a pre-meditated attack vladimir putin has been planning this for months as something we've been saying all along he moved more than 175 000 troops military equipment and positions along the ukrainian border he moved blood supplies into position and built a field hospital which uh tells you all you need to know about his intentions all along he rejected every good faith effort the united states and our allies and partners made to address our mutual security concerns through dialogue to avoid needless conflict and avert human suffering for weeks for weeks we have been warning that this would happen and now it's unfolding largely as we predict it in the past week we've seen shelling increase in the donbas a region in eastern ukraine controlled by russian-backed separatists rush the russian government has perpetrated cyber attacks against ukraine we saw a staged political theater in moscow outlandish in baseless claims that ukraine was a ukraine was about to invade and launch a war against russia that ukraine was prepared to use chemical weapons the ukraine committed a genocide without any evidence.

We saw a flagrant violation of 
international law in attempting to unilaterally create two new so-called republics on sovereign ukrainian territory and at the very moment that the united nations security council was meeting to stand up for ukraine's sovereignty to stave off invasion putin declared his war within moments moments missile strikes began to fall on historic cities across ukraine then came the air raids followed by tanks and troops rolling in we've been transparent with the world we've shared declassified evidence about russia's plans and cyber attacks and false pretexts so that there could be no confusion or cover-up about what putin was doing putin is the aggressor putin chose this war and now he and his country will bear the consequences today i'm authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to russia this is going to impose severe cost on the russian economy both immediately andover time.
We have purposefully designed these 
sanctions to maximize the long-term impact on russia and to minimize the impact on the united states and our allies and i want to be clear the united states is not doing this alone for months we've been building a coalition of partners representing well more than half the global economy 27 members of the european union including france germany italy as well as the united kingdom canada japan australia new zealand and many others to amplify the joint impact of our response i just spoke with the g7 leaders this morning and we're in full and total agreement.
We will limit russia's ability to do 
business in dollars euros pounds and yen to be part of the global economy we'll limit their ability to do that we're going to stunt the ability of tofinance and grow rush the russian military we're going to impose major and we're going to impair their ability to compete in high-tech 21st century economy we've already seen the impact of our actions on russia's currency in the ruble which early today hit its weakest level ever ever in history the russia stock market plunged today the russian government borrowing rates spiked by over 15 percent in today's actions.
We've now sanctioned russian banks that 
together hold around one trillion dollars in assets we've cut off russia's largest bank a bank that holds more than one-third of russia's banking assets by itself cut it off from the u.s financial system and today we're also blocking four more  major banks that means every asset they have in america will be frozen this includes vtb the second largest bank in russia which has 250 billion dollars in assets as promised we're also adding the names to the list of russian elites and their family members that are sanctioning that were sanctioned as well as i said on tuesday these are people who personally gain from the kremlin's policies and they should share in the pain.
We will keep up this drumbeat 
of those designations against corrupt billionaires in the days ahead on tuesday we stopped the russian government from raising money from u.s or european investors now we're going to apply the same restrictions to russia's largest state-owned enterprises companies with assets that exceed 1.4 trillion dollars some of the most powerful impacts our actions will come over time as we squeeze russians access to finances and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come between our actions and those of our allies and partners we estimate that.
We'll cut off more than half of russia's 
high-tech imports it'll strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize in the military it'll degrade their aerospace industry including their space program it'll hurt their ability to build ships reducing their ability to compete economically and it will be a major hit to putin's long-term strategic ambitions and we're preparing to do more in addition to the economic penalties.
We're imposing we're also taking steps 
to defend our nato allies particularly in the east tomorrow nato will convene a summit we'll be there to bring together the leaders of 30 allied nations and close partners to affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our nato alliance although we provided over 650 million dollars in defensive assistance to ukraine just this year this last year let me say it again our forces are not and will not be engaged in the conflict with russia in ukraine our forces are not going to europe to fight in ukraine but to defend our nato allies and reassure those allies in the east as i made crystal clear the united states will defend every inch of nato territory with the full force of american power and the good news is nato was more united and more determined than ever there is no doubt no doubt that the united states and every nato ally will meet our article 5 commitments which says an attack on one as an attack on all over the past few weeks i ordered thousands of additional forces to germany and poland as part of our commitment to nato on tuesday in response to russia's aggressive action including his troop presence in belarus and the black sea i've authorized deployment of ground and air forces already stationed in europe to nato's eastern flank allies estonia latvia lithuania poland and romania our allies have also been stepping up adding the other allies the rest of nato adding their own forces and capabilities to ensure collective defense and today within hours of russia's unleashing its assault nato came together and authorized and activated an activation of response plans this will enable nato's high readiness forces to deploy and when and where they are needed to protect our nato allies on the eastern boundaries of europe and now i'm authorizing additional u.s force capabilities to deploy to germany as part of nato's response including some of the u.s based forces that the department of defense placed on standby weeks ago i've also spoken with defense secretary austin and chairman of joint chiefs general milley about preparations for additional moves should they become necessary to protect our nato allies and support the greatest military alliance in the history of the world nato as we respond my administration is using the tools every tools disposal protect american families and businesses from rising prices at the gas pump you know we're taking active steps to bring down the cost and american oil and gas companies should not should not exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits you know in our sanctions package we specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue.
we are closely monitoring energy 
supplies for any disruption we've been coordinating with major oil producing and consuming countries toward our common interest to secure global energy supplies we are actively working with countries around the world to elevate collective release from the strategic patrolling reserves of major energy consuming countries and the united states will release additional barrels of oil as conditions worn i know this is hard and that americans are already hurting i will do everything in my power to limit the pain the american people are feeling at the gas pump this is critical to me but this aggression cannot go unanswered if it did the consequences for america would be much worse america stands up to bullies we stand up for freedom this is who we are let me also repeat the warning i made last week if russia pursues cyber attacks against our companies our critical infrastructure.
we are prepared to respond for months 
we've been working closely with our pride with the private sector to harden our cyber defenses sharpen our ability to respond to russian cyber attacks as well i spoke last night to president zielinski of ukraine and i assured him that the united states together with our allies and partners in europe will support the ukrainian people as they defend their country we'll provide you humanitarian relief to ease their suffering in the early days of this conflict russia propaganda outlets will keep trying to hide the truth and claim success for its military operation against a made-up threat but history has shown time and again how swift gains in territory eventually give way to grinding occupations acts of mass civil mass civil disobedience and strategic dead ends the next few weeks and months we hard on the people of ukraine putin has unleashed a great pain on them but the ukrainian people have known 30 years of independence they've repeatedly shown that they will not tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards this is a dangerous moment for all of europe for the freedom around the world putin has a committed assault on the very principles that uphold the global peace but now the entire world sees clearly what putin and his criminal and his kremlin allies are really all about this was never about a genuine security concerns on their part it was always about naked aggression about putin's desire for empire by any means necessary by bullying russia's neighbors through coercion and corruption by changing borders by force  and ultimately by choosing a war without a cause putin's action betrays sinister vision for the future of our world one more nations take what they want by force but it is a vision that the united states and freedom-loving nations everywhere will oppose with every tool of our considerable power the united states and our allies and partners will merge from this stronger more united more determined and more purposeful and putin's aggression against ukraine will end up costing russia dearly economically and strategically we will make sure of that putin will be a pariah on the international stage any nation accountant is russia's naked aggression against ukraine will be stained by association.
when the history of this area is written 
putin's choice 
to make a totally unjustifiable war on 
ukraine will have left russia weaker and 
the rest of the world stronger 
liberty democracy human dignity these 
are the forces far more powerful than 
fear and oppression 
they cannot be extinguished by tyrants 
like putin and his armies 
they cannot be erased by people from 
people's hearts and hopes by any amount 
of violence and intimidation 
they endure 
in the contest between democracy and 
autocracy 
between sovereignty and subjugation 
make no mistake 
freedom will prevail 
god bless the people of a free and 
democratic ukrainian may god protect our 
troops