US president delivers speech in Poland on anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine after Putin says he will suspend participation in New Start treaty. This live blog is now closed
Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.
The US president said the attack on Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, and said new sanctions against Russia will be announced this week.
The Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy “would not waver” in its support for Ukraine after meeting president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Russian strikes in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson have left at least six people dead and 12 more injured.
The foreign ministers of the G7 have said their countries would continue to impose economic costs on Russia and urged the broader international community to reject what they described as Moscow’s “brutal expansionism”.
Ukraine told schools on Tuesday to hold classes remotely from 22-24 February because of the risk of Russian missile strikes around the first anniversary of Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
Eighteen Russian MPs are expected to attend a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on Friday, the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and have been invited to a nationalist ball.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has given a long televised national address to the joint houses of the Russian parliament, in which he blamed the west for starting the war in Ukraine, announced Russia would suspend the New Start nuclear treaty with the US, and promised a new fund to help those who had lost loved ones in what he referred to as Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said he regretted Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the New Start bilateral nuclear arms control treaty and urged Moscow to reconsider.
Joe Biden had visited Kyiv on Monday to announce a new package of additional US aid to Ukraine worth $500m (£415m) including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air surveillance radars. The timing of his visit – before Putin’s address – was seen as a deliberate rebuke of the Russian president.
The US president then arrived in Warsaw late on Monday evening where he met with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, along with other leaders of countries on Nato’s eastern flank.
The Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy “would not waver” in its support for Ukraine after meeting president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Almost one year on from Russia’s invasion of the country, Meloni referred to Ukraine as an “extraordinary nation” which has been heroic in defending its “freedom, identity and sovereignty”.
“Italy will give every possible assistance to create the conditions for negotiation, but until then it will give every kind of military, financial and civil support,” she said. “Those who support Ukraine, even militarily, are those who work for peace.”
However, she said there was no plan on the table for Italy to send warplanes to Ukraine. “It is a decision to be made with international partners.”
It was Meloni’s first visit to the war-torn country since her government took power in October.
She arrived by train from Poland and was visibly moved during visits to Irpin and Bucha, towns in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital where atrocities were found after Russian troops left. “It’s different talking about numbers and seeing on-the-spot the lives of people destroyed for no reason,” Meloni said at the end of her visit to Irpin.
“We saw devastation and suffering with our own eyes,” she added during the press conference with Zelenskiy. “We can’t turn the other way and it would be very stupid to do so.”
Meloni had earlier dismissed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s speech on Tuesday as “propaganda”.
“A part of my heart hoped for some different words for a step ahead,” she said.
Meloni has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine although the stance of her allies – Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League – have been less clear.
The Ukrainian president responded to controversial comments made by Berlusconi, the former Italian premier and long-time friend of Putin, who last week blamed Zelenskiy for the war, saying that if he had “stopped attacking the two autonomous republics of the Donbas” then the conflict would not have happened.
Zelenskiy said: “I believe that Berlusconi’s house has never been bombed by missiles, tanks have never arrived in the garden of his house, nobody killed his relatives, he never had to pack a suitcase at three in the morning to escape, or his wife never had to look for food…all this is thanks to the brotherly love of Russia. I wish peace to all Italian families, even those who don’t support Ukraine, but they need to understand that lives are being taken away.”
Reuters reports that the supply of military planes to Ukraine “is not on the table”, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday after talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Speaking in a news conference alongside Zelenskiy, Meloni said Italy was considering sending more air defence systems beyond the SAMP/T-MAMBA on which it has worked with France
The Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a televised national address to the joint houses of the Russian parliament earlier, in which he blamed the west for starting the war in Ukraine. Putin said the west had begun “not just a military and information, but an economic, aggression” against Russia. He also announced he was suspending the country’s participation in a nuclear treaty with the US.
From the US politics blog:
Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.
“Autocrats only understand one word: no.” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future. I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year at the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberties. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never.”
He then condemned Russian president Vladimir Putin for the invasion, which began on 24 February of last year.
“This war is never a necessity. It’s a tragedy. President Putin chose this war. Every day the war continues is his choice. He could end the war with a word. It’s simple. Russia stops invading Ukraine, it would end the war. If Ukraine stopped defending itself against Russia, it would be the end of Ukraine. That’s why together, we’re making sure Ukraine can defend itself,” Biden said.
Biden has rallied Nato allies in Poland on Tuesday, proclaiming “unwavering” support for Kyiv and a commitment to bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank.
Reuters reports:
“One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden said at Warsaw’s Royal Castle. “I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free.”
Biden used the trip to rally support for Ukraine as the war enters its second year with no end in sight, on the same day as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a major speech unpicking nuclear accords with Washington.
Earlier on Tuesday, Biden met Nato ally Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of the most vocal proponents of stronger Western support for Kyiv.
That followed an unannounced trip on Monday to Ukraine, marking the first time in recent memory that a US president has made such a journey to a country at war without US troops on the ground controlling the area.
“When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over,” Biden said. “He was wrong.”
Duda said Biden’s visit showed US commitment to maintaining security in Europe, and described Biden’s stop in Kyiv as an “incredible gesture”.
Poland has Nato’s longest border with Ukraine and has been the main route in for weapons and out for refugees. The two leaders were expected to discuss Poland’s security and scaling up Nat resources there.
“I call on all European states, Nato states, to show solidarity with Ukraine, to provide military support to Ukraine, so that they have something to fight with,” said Duda. “Do not be afraid to provide this support”.
Poland was under communist rule for four decades until 1989 and was a member of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact security alliance. It is now part of the EU and Nato.
Biden’s visit was welcomed by ordinary Poles and by the 2.5 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children refugees from the conflict, now living in the country.
Many called for bolder Western support for Kyiv, including the supply of fighter jets, which Biden has so far held back from offering.
“We hope that they (the US) will increase shipments of arms, that things at the front will improve and that we will win,” said Alina Kiiko, 32, a Ukrainian in central Warsaw.
On the Roman Dmowski roundabout in the centre of the city, a giant advertising screen ran the slogan: “Biden, give F-16 to Ukraine” in English, referring to US fighter jets.
Demonstrators displayed a banner with the same slogan outside the hotel where Biden stayed overnight as he left for his meeting with Duda in the Polish presidential palace where he was met by a military honour guard.
Warsaw resident Marian Switala, 70, said he hoped “that this conflict will somehow be resolved and there will be peace in Ukraine and the surrounding area”.
Biden says that more sanctions against Russia will be announced this week.
Biden says crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by Russia will be punished.
He says the US will continue to have Ukraine’s back as the country defends itself.
Biden says he will host Nato members next year for a summit to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the organisation.
Biden says he was honoured to pay tribute to those who lost their lives, in Kyiv yesterday.
He says that he stands with millions of refugees created by the war. He said that in their darkest moments, Poland offered refugees safety. Together we make sure that Russia pays the price for its abuses, Biden says.
Biden says that the EU has stepped up with unprecedented support for Ukraine. He says that Putin tried to starve the world and exacerbate a global food crisis, but instead the US and G7 answered the call with commitments to address the crisis and bolster global food supply.
He says his wife is travelling across Africa to raise awareness of this issue.
Biden says that Ukraine is still independent and free one year after Putin’s invasion. He says that Ukraine’s flag proudly flies and Ukraine is still independent and a democracy.
He says that the war was a tragedy, and that Putin could end the war. He says together we are making sure Ukraine can defend themselves.
Biden says that Nato would not be divided and support for Ukraine will not falter. That brutality would never grind down the will of the free, and Ukraine would never be a victory for Russia.
Biden says Putin thought Nato would fracture and divide, but instead Nato is more united than before.
Biden says that when Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over, but he was wrong. Democracy was too strong, and instead of an easy victory Putin left with Russian forces in disarray.
Biden says that Kyiv stands proud, tall, and free. He said the whole world faced a test of the ages when Russia invading Ukraine, as well as Nato and all democracies.
He says that one year later, the world would not look the other way to Russia’s attack.
He said that we stand up for democracy and sovereignty, and the right of people to live free from aggression.
Biden says that Poland is one of the US’s great allies, and thanks the Polish president for welcoming him back.
He says the principles of peace were at risk of being shattered by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
You can follow US coverage of Joe Biden’s speech here in our dedicated US live blog.
Russian strikes in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson have left at least six people dead and 12 more injured. According to local authorities, Russia used multiple-launch rocket systems to hit residential areas and critical infrastructure facilities, including a market, a transport stop and a kindergarten. The strikes came as Vladimir Putin made his state of the nation speech in Moscow, during which he announced a suspension of a key nuclear arms deal with the US.
Prior to Biden’s speech, Duda says that the defenders of Ukraine will prevail, and that this horrible sacrifice by the Ukrainians will bear the fruits of victory.
He added that Biden stood in Ukraine above all odds, and has showed that Ukraine is not alone and is supported by the most important country in the world.