By Aaron Miller-
Joe Biden ridiculed Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, in a much welcomed speech during his surprise visit to Ukraine where he pledged his unwavering support to the besieged country.
Biden assured Ukranians that America will support them right to the every end, and he told the crowd that Putin had expected his enemies to “roll over” when he invaded Ukraine but was met with the “iron will” of its allies.
His speech came as the Russian president whose despotic rule has been responsible for multiple killings in his own country and abroad, suspended a key nuclear treaty with the US after accusing the West of starting the war.
The competitive speeches came on a day the UN revealed the civilian death toll of the war to have exceeded 8,000. Ukrainian officials said five more people were killed by fresh Russian shelling in Kherson .
A defiant Putin, whose health has been subject to several speculations in the past few months, also vowed to conduct nuclear weapons tests if Washington chose to do so and challenged the nuclear weapons posture of the UK and France.
However, Biden’s powerful speech from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, hours after Mr Putin delivered a state of the nation address in Russia, calling for an escalation of the war in Ukraine, was more compelling and stately, and was as assuring as he could be in America’s support for Ukraine, while Putin- a master propagandist- blamed the West for the war in Ukraine
Mr Biden accused Putin of deliberately timing his speech to coincide with his visit to Ukraine. The visit came jut days after Zelensky himself toured Europe making an impassioned plea for more jet s to be sent to secure a victory against Russia in the painful war which has so far cot so many lives.
“I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free,” Mr Biden said on Tuesday evening.
Joe Biden hammers home the message of freedom as he finishes his speech in Poland. His words were met with applause from the audience as he thanked Poland for their contribution in the Ukraine war
Mr Putin had earlier blamed the West for starting the war in Ukraine and claimed his country responded with force “in order to stop it”.
He added that Ukraine was in talks with the West about weapons supplies before Russia invaded its neighbour on 24 February last year.
“I would like to emphasise when Russia tried to find a peaceful solution they were playing with the lives of people and they were playing a dirty game,” Mr Putin said.
Biden says ‘democracy was too strong’
Both leaders gave speeches presenting starkly contrasting views of the war as the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches.
Mr Biden used his address to repeatedly accuse Mr Putin of underestimating NATO
Biden said that when Russia invaded it wasn’t just Ukraine being tested, the whole world faced a test for the ages… all democracies were being tested.
“The questions we faced were as simple as they were profound. Would we respond or would we look the other way?
“Would we be strong or would we be weak?”
Mr Biden continued: “One year later we know the answer.
“We did respond, we would be strong, we would be united, and the world would not look the other way.”
Mr Biden said: “President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. He was wrong.
“The Ukrainian people were too brave. America, Europe, a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we were too unified.
“Democracy was too strong. Instead of the easy victory he perceived and predicted, Putin left with burnt-out tanks and Russia’s forces in disarray.
“He thought he would get the Finlandization of NATO, instead he got the NATO-isation of Finland and Sweden.”
The term Finlandization has been used to refer to the decision of a country not to challenge a more powerful neighbour in foreign politics while maintaining national sovereignty.
‘Autocrats have grown weaker’
“He thought NATO would fracture and divide. Instead, NATO was more united and more unified than ever before,” Mr Biden continued.
“He thought autocrats like himself were tough and leaders of democracies were soft, and then he met the iron will of America and nations everywhere who refused to accept a world governed by fear and force.”
Mr Biden added: “President Putin is confronted with something today that he didn’t think was possible a year ago.
“The democracies of the world have grown stronger not weaker, but the autocrats of the world have grown weaker not stronger.”
Mr Biden also lamented the “abhorrent” crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine by targeting civilians with “death and destruction” and had used rape as a “weapon of war”
Meanwhile, Putin said the Kremlin would pause its involvement in the New START Treaty – a landmark pact signed between then US president Barack Obama and then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Prague in 2010.
The pact, due to expire in 2026, caps the number of deployed nuclear warhead both countries can deploy, and was a key part of efforts by Washington to adjust relations with Moscow during Mr Obama’s political reign.
“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty [START],” Mr Putin said.
“Of course, we will not do this first. But if the United States conducts tests, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed.”
America and Russia are the most powerful nuclear countries, although Russia is believed to be the more formidable power in that respect, with an irresponsible leader sitting at the pinnacle of power.