Alexis Guilleux, edited by Gauthier Delomez with AFP 06:51, March 02, 2022
As Russia stepped up its offensive in Ukraine on Tuesday night, hitting the capital Kyiv and the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, Joe Biden on Tuesday lashed out in force at Vladimir Putin, a "dictator" who is "more isolated than ever," during his State of the Union address.
He reaffirmed US support for Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday blasted Vladimir Putin, a "dictator" who is "more isolated than ever", as Moscow stepped up its offensive in Ukraine, hitting Kiev and the major city of Kharkiv.
The Russian president "thought the West and NATO would not respond" to the invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, he launched during his first "State of the Union address " in Washington.
But "Putin was wrong", "we are ready, we are united", he hammered, calling on the American Congress to offer a standing ovation in support "to the Ukrainian people" who "are not afraid of anything".
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Putin 'is more isolated than ever,' says Biden
"Putin is now more isolated than ever from the rest of the world", because in the battle against "autocracy", "democracies are at the rendezvous", he added, listing the unprecedented sanctions that have been downed on Russia.
But "if dictators do not pay the price for their aggression, they cause even more chaos", warned the 46th president in American history to the address of the master of the Kremlin.
The tenant of the White House also threatened the Russian oligarchs to seize their “yachts, luxury apartments and jets”.
"When the history of this period is written, Putin's war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger," predicted the Democratic leader.
In fact, international pressure continues to increase on Moscow.
US airspace closed to Russian flights
Joe Biden announced the banning of United States airspace "to all Russian flights", as the European Union had done.
And the 27 states of the European Union have given the green light to the exclusion of "certain Russian banks" from the Swift messaging system, a key cog in international finance, and to the ban on the distribution of media from Russian state RT and Sputnik.
As a result of sanctions of historic magnitude, which the G7 countries threatened on Tuesday to tighten further, the main subsidiary in Europe of the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, is heading for bankruptcy.
Seized by the Ukrainian government, which accuses Moscow of planning genocide, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest judicial body of the United Nations, for its part announced hearings on March 7 and 8.