US President Joe Biden vows Russia will never see victory in Ukraine, delivering a major speech in Warsaw hours after Russia's Vladimir Putin said his country would continue its nearly year-long military offensive, reports BSS.
Putin, in his annual state-of-the-nation address, accused the West of escalating the conflict and announced the Kremlin would suspend participation in the New START nuclear arms treaty with Washington.
The Russian president said increasingly stringent sanctions on the country "will not succeed" and vowed Russia would keep fighting to "systematically" achieve its aims.
Speaking hours later in the capital of NATO ally Poland, Biden pledged that "Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia -- never."
The 80-year-old leader had a day earlier made a surprise visit to Kyiv, his first since the invasion began and just days before the war's one-year anniversary.
Surrounded by a flag-waving crowd outside Warsaw's Royal Castle, Biden responded directly to Putin's accusations, saying the West "is not plotting to attack Russia".
He said Putin "thought autocrats like himself were tough" but faced the "iron will" of the United States and its partners.
"There should be no doubt: our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided and we will not tire."
Biden earlier met Polish President Andrzej Duda, saying his visit had come "at a critical moment".
He also reaffirmed Washington's "iron-clad" commitment to NATO's principle of collective defence.
Duda said that thanks to Biden "we can see that America can keep the world order".
Putin's decision to suspend participation in New START was met with widespread international condemnation, though Russia's foreign ministry later said Moscow would continue to comply with the treaty's restrictions in a "responsible approach".
The 2010 deal is the last remaining arms control treaty between the world's two main nuclear powers.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia's decision was "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible" but that Washington was still willing to talk about the issue.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the move meant that "the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden for his speech in a tweet, as well as "all of America for their leadership in rallying the world in support of freedom and for their vital assistance to Ukraine."
"We all stand united and brave -- Ukraine, USA and our entire coalition of victory."
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
