US President Joe Biden Calls Putin “Dictator” & Says “Ukraine Stands Strong”

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday gave a sharp reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech. He said that even after a year of Russian invasion, Ukraine “stands strong” and that Moscow would never defeat it. 

Biden’s speech was made at Warsaw’s Royal Castle in Poland after he returned there from a surprise visit to Ukraine, where he countered several remarks made by the Russian president.

Hours before Biden’s speech, Putin gave his state of the nation address where he made several allegations on US led NATO and Ukraine. He also defended the war by putting its blame on the Western countries which are supplying weapons to Ukraine in abundance. He vowed to continue with Russia’s year-long war in Ukraine, he accused the West of “starting the war” and said that Russia “did everything to stop it.”

In his speech, the Russian President also announced suspension of a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, after blaming the West for its support for Ukraine. Putin’s speech came hours before Biden launched a scathing attack on him. 

As the anniversary of the invasion approaches on February 24, Biden rebuffed Russia’s claim that the West was preparing to invade the country and vowed to continue supporting Kyiv and NATO’s eastern flank.

Joe Biden said, “One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv. I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free.”

He added, “When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. He was wrong. Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased. They must be opposed. Autocrats only understand one word: no, no, no. No, you will not take my country.”

“We’re seeing again today what the people of Poland and the people across Europe saw for decades. Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased. They must be opposed.”

In his speech, he avoided mentioning Russia’s START suspension but asserted that Washington and its allies were not supporting Kiev because they wanted to subjugate or destroy Russia.

He said, “The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today … This war was never a necessity. It’s a tragedy. President Putin chose this war.”

In his speech, Biden called Putin an “autocrat” and said that such people “understand only one word: no”. He heavily accused Russia of “crimes against humanity”,  “targeting civilians with death,” “stealing Ukrainian children, and targeting train stations, maternity wards, hospitals, schools and orphanages.”

Speaking from Warsaw, Poland, Biden praised the west’s response to Moscow’s assault and urged leaders to keep fighting for freedom and democracy.

“When Russia invaded, it wasn’t just Ukraine being tested. The whole world faced a test for the ages. Europe was being tested,” Biden spoke from the gardens of the Royal Castle.

“There should be no doubt. Our support for Ukraine will not waver. NATO will not be divided. And we will not tire,” he added.

According to the US president, NATO is “perhaps the most consequential alliance in history,” and despite Putin’s expectations that it would break apart over the conflict in Ukraine, it is “stronger than ever.”

“We have to have security in Europe,” Biden said. “It’s that basic, that simple, that consequential.”

Talking about the Western unity against Putin’s “dictatorship”, he said, “Would we respond or would we look the other way? Would we be strong or would we be weak? Would all of our allies be united, or divided? One year later, we know the answer. We would respond, we would be strong, we would be united, and the world would not look the other way.”

About a year had passed since Biden’s previous speech to the castle, which took place “just weeks after Vladimir Putin had unleashed his murderous assault on Ukraine.”

“I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year in the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberty. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. And Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia.”

Also, Biden addressed Putin’s anti-Western diatribe from earlier on Tuesday, in which Putin asserted that Russia, not Ukraine, was struggling for its very existence.

“The West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin said today,” Biden said. “Millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy.”

The US president paid his first trip to Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24 of last year.