The US president gave a keynote speech on the war in Ukraine, which contained a series of sharp warnings directed at the Kremlin.

Biden said Putin strangled democracy in his home country and is now trying to do the same abroad.

He described the Russian leader's statement that he wanted to de-Nazify Ukraine as an "obscene lie".

- It is cynical and he knows about it, said Biden and continued:

- President Zelensky is democratically elected.

He is Jewish.

His father's family was killed in the Holocaust, and Putin has the audacity to believe that the strong's right rules.

"Strategic loss"

Biden described in the speech how the Kremlin has interpreted a NATO enlargement as an imperialist project aimed at destabilizing Russia.

"Nothing is further from the truth, NATO is a defense alliance," said the US president.

He described the Russian invasion as a "strategic loss" for Russia.

The Western world is more united than ever and NATO now has an even stronger presence in Eastern Europe compared to before the outbreak of war, Biden said.

At the same time, he stressed that American forces in Europe are not there to fight Russian troops, but to defend NATO allies.

- Do not even think about the idea of ​​touching a millimeter of NATO land, Biden said in a call directed directly at Russia.

Skills flight from Russia

Russia is using "raw power and misinformation" to satisfy a longing for absolute power and control, according to Biden.

At the same time, the war has also hit Russia hard, he said.

The economic sanctions have hit hard and affected its military capabilities.

In addition, the indigenous population is affected.

- 200,000 people are said to have already left the country.

It is a "brain drain" (skills flight) that is going on, said Biden.

He ended his speech by saying that Putin could no longer remain in power.

Shortly after the speech ended, however, a clarification came from the White House.

"US President Joe Biden did not call for a change of regime in Russia when he said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'can not remain in power,'" the statement said. 

"The president's point was that Putin could not be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," it added.