Biden also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a phone call, during which the U.S. leader called Putin’s military activities “unprovoked and unjustified.” Responding to Zelensky’s request that the world’s leaders speak out against Russian’s “flagrant aggression,” Biden pledged that the United States and its allies will coordinate their responses in a “united and decisive” fashion.
Biden will meet with leaders from the Group of Seven nations Thursday morning and will address the American people on further sanctions to deter Russian aggression.
The White House said Biden also received briefings Wednesday evening on the “ongoing attack on Ukraine by Russian military forces” from senior national security and defense officials.
In an early-hours speech Thursday morning, Putin said his country strives to achieve the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine and end eight years of war in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been fighting Russian-backed separatists. Shortly afterward, explosions could be heard in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and Kharkiv, in the country’s northeast. A senior Ukrainian official said there were explosions at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport.
Sharing a split-screen with those reports are the efforts from the world’s top diplomats, who continue to call for peace and dialogue. But the limited influence of the United Nations Security Council, which convened an emergency meeting Wednesday evening, was laid bare as the Russian envoy, Vasily Nebenzya, insisted that his country was not attacking the people of Ukraine but the military “junta” in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv. The meeting ended with no action proposed and none taken.