Washington, : US President Joe Biden declared Russia’s assault on Ukraine a ‘premeditated attack’.
He also announced that additional sanctions of the U.S. and Western allies will impose on Russia in response to its aggressive actions.
In a late night statement from the White House, Biden said, “This is a premeditated attack what Vladimir Putin was planning for months, as we’ve been saying all along. … For weeks, for weeks, we have been warning that this would happen, and now, it’s unfolding largely as we predicted.”
Biden condemned the war declared by Russia calling it an “unprovoked and unjustified attack” on Ukraine, after Russia began launching strikes against Ukrainian cities, including the capital of Kyiv. The president accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of choosing “a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said Russian forces started breaking through the country’s border in the Kyiv region, and Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said “dozens” of Ukrainian troops were killed amid Russia’s air attacks.
Biden’s remarks follow a meeting with Group of 7 leaders, many of which joined the U.S. in issuing widespread condemnation of Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, as well as a meeting with his National Security Council to discuss the latest developments in the crisis.
In order to deter Russia from taking extreme actions in Ukraine, the U.S. rolled out a first tranche of sanctions after Putin recognized as independent the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine. The initial round targeted a pair of Russian banks and five members of Russia’s elite with ties to Putin, as well as the company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its corporate officers.
But the Biden administration and Western leaders have warned a further escalation by Putin against Russia’s neighbor would trigger more severe sanctions, and the president said in a statement late Wednesday that the U.S. and allies will impose “further consequences” on Russia for its attack against Ukraine.
