Biden, Zelensky send warning to a defiant Putin

Source: The Hill | December 23, 2022 | Laura Kelly

President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Washington meeting was covered worldwide, but the leaders also had an audience of one: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The side by side at the White House and Zelensky’s address to Congress came amid warnings from Kyiv that Russia is planning to renew a ground offensive during the winter months.

The visit sought to shore up American support for Ukraine to effectively meet Russia on the battlefield. The expectation is that the 10-month war will continue far into the future, with references to peace or a negotiated solution largely addressed as an afterthought. 

Biden committed to help Ukraine “as long as it takes.” 

“We both want this war to end … it could end today if Putin had any dignity at all and did the right thing and just pulled out,” Biden said. “But that’s not going to happen.”

And Zelensky’s message to Putin was that in standing next to Biden, he had secured more military support to counter Moscow’s missile and drone attacks on infrastructure — targeting the will of the Ukrainian people by depriving them of heat, water and electricity.

“You said, ‘What’s going to happen after Patriots are installed?’ After that, we will send another signal to President Biden that we would like to get more Patriots,” Zelensky said, responding to a reporter’s question and referencing the highly coveted advanced aerial defense systems being provided by the U.S.

Experts say the point of Zelensky’s visit was both to bolster Washington’s position as the global leader in the defense against Russian aggression and allow for close cooperation between U.S. and Ukrainian officials on the next phase of the fighting.

……..

Still, Weber said Putin has shown no signs of easing off the military offensive in Ukraine. 

“Putin is committed to one policy and one policy only, and that policy is ‘victory at any cost.’ And that ‘any cost’ is going to be some couple hundred-thousand of dead Russians,” he said.

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.