“NATO has never, never been more united than it is today. Putin is getting exactly the opposite of what he intended to have as a consequence of going into Ukraine,” said President Biden in remarks to the press at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The President said that Putin was banking on NATO being divided, and he did not think that NATO could sustain this cohesion. “Putin is getting exactly the opposite of what he intended to have as a consequence of going into Ukraine. We built that same unity with our European — the European Union and with the leading democracies in the G7.”
“In addition to the 100,000 US forces now stationed in Europe to defend NATO territory, NATO established, as you already know, four new battle groups in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia to reinforce the eastern front,” said the President.
At the NATO summit the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Biden said he had three objectives: to support Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance, impose economic sanctions to cripple Putin’s economy, punish him for his actions, and fortify the eastern flank of our NATO Allies. “We accomplished all three of these. And today, we’re determined to sustain those efforts and to build on them,” said the President.
“The United States has committed to provide over $2 billion in military equipment to Ukraine since I became President — anti-air systems, anti-armor systems, ammunition. And our weapons are flowing into Ukraine as I speak,” he said.
Today President Biden announced that the United States has prepared to commit more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to help get relief to millions of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine. The US will also welcome 100,000 Ukrainians to the United States, focusing on reuniting families.
The US will invest $320 million to “bolster democratic resilience and defend human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries.” The US is coordinating with the G7 and the European Union on food security and energy security, and further details will be announced tomorrow.
President Biden said that there will be new sanctions on more than 400 individuals and entities in alignment with the European Union: more than 300 members of the Duma, oligarchs, and Russian defense companies that fuel the Russian war machine.
