Just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is suspending a key nuclear agreement with the US on Tuesday, American President Joe Biden gave an impassioned speech in the Polish capital Warsaw, stating that NATO is more united than ever.
Biden is on a two-day visit to Poland, and in a speech in Warsaw's city centre vowed to continue supporting Ukraine as it enters a second year of the war, while repeatedly denouncing Putin and promising the US would not waver.
"When Russia invaded, it was not 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," he said. "The question was how we would respond. Would we be united? A year later, the answer is that we are united. We would stand for democracy, and we have done that. And we will continue to do that no matter what."
While it initially looked like Russia would easily take Ukraine, it did not manage to do that, Biden stressed. "When Putin ordered his tanks to drive into Ukraine, he thought the world would look the other way. He was wrong. The Ukrainian people were too brave. America, Europe, a coalition of countries from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we were too united."
“Putin thought NATO would break, but NATO is more united than ever before," Biden said. Importantly, he also confirmed the US' "rock solid" commitment to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which states that an attack against one member is an attack against all.
"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never," Biden said to loud applause. "Autocrats only understand one word: No. No, no, no, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future."
Biden also addressed the Russian population, stating that the West is not out to attack Russia, as Putin claimed in his speech earlier that day. He did, however, indicate that new sanctions against Russia will be announced later this week.
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The US President's visit to Warsaw came the day after his surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday. The centre of the Polish capital was closed off as the convoy escorting Biden made its way to the presidential palace, where he was met in the courtyard by Polish President Andrzej Duda.
On Wednesday, Biden will meet with the so-called "Bucharest Nine," the countries representing NATO's eastern flank: Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
