Vladimir Putin's animosity towards the West has increased as President Joe Biden, who recently visited Kyiv, praised Western democracies for resisting overt Russian aggression.
In a week packed with activities leading up to Friday's anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Putin took the floor first.
He asserted that the West had supported Nazi Germany and turned Ukraine into an "anti-Russian" neo-Nazi state.
A few hours later, Mr. Biden claimed that autocrats only knew how to say "No, no, no!".
He declared that Nato was more united than ever and declared that "Putin thought the world would roll over, he was wrong.". He added that Western support for Ukraine would not falter as long as Kyiv stood strong, proud, tall, and free.
Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, welcomed him to Warsaw's royal castle and said that by traveling to Kyiv, Mr. Biden had demonstrated that the free world had no fear. Ukraine "must win this war," according to Nato, whose role it was to protect and support the free world.
In his speech, Mr. Putin barely mentioned how the Russian military was faring in Ukraine, and he gave no indication of how the conflict might be resolved. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, claimed that the chief of staff and defense minister were attempting to disarm and dismantle his organization, which was the main military-related news in Russia.
The New Start nuclear arms control treaty, which was signed with the US in 2010, has indeed been suspended, according to the Russian president. The deal caps the number of nuclear warheads, and leaders from NATO and the UK have urged him to change his mind.
He added that he had deployed brand-new ground-based systems for combat. He had previously threatened to defend Russia and the Ukrainian territory it had annexed by using "all means at our disposal.".
Truth was a victim of Mr. Putin's lengthy speech, which took place at an exhibition center not far from the Kremlin.
They were responsible for starting the conflict. President Putin declared in his address to both houses of the Russian parliament that "we are using force to stop it.
When summoning US ambassador Lynne Tracy on Tuesday, Russia's foreign ministry seemed to reaffirm that no Western troops had been stationed in Ukraine and demanded that the US take action to remove "US-Nato military and equipment.".
Many of the accusations Mr. Putin made during his TV address on the day of the invasion a year ago were repeated. He has repeatedly blamed the West and Nato. He brought up the war in Iraq and the bombing of Belgrade, but he avoided mentioning Russia's protracted and destructive involvement in the Syrian civil war, its invasion of the neighboring country of Georgia, or its annexation of Crimea.
A grim reminder of the human cost of Europe's deadliest invasion since World War Two occurred as he was speaking.
Russian shelling that struck Kherson, a city that was freed from Russian troops in November, resulted in six deaths and numerous injuries. In the city center, a kindergarten was reportedly among the targets of the attack, in addition to a bus stop, a pharmacy, and residential areas.
The New Start treaty, which was signed in 2010 by two presidents at the time—Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev—was intended to stop nuclear war. It gives each nation the authority to inspect the other and restricts the total number of strategic nuclear warheads that can be deployed by both sides.
The agreement went into effect in 2011 and was renewed ten years later, despite the Covid pandemic disrupting the weapons inspections.
1,550 long-range nuclear warheads are the maximum allowed for each side, which is fewer than under the previous Start agreement.
The two former Cold War adversaries jointly control nearly all of the world's nuclear weapons. Despite hostile rhetoric on both sides during the Ukraine war, Russia had previously stated that it wanted to keep the treaty in place.
A day after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, President Biden traveled to Warsaw in an elaborate security operation.
The visit, according to the Polish president, "sent an extremely important political signal, particularly for Ukraine," but it also showed that the free world and the US president were with them and did not forget.
Mr. Zelensky and the Ukrainians, who had reclaimed land taken during the early weeks of the war, received the majority of Mr. Biden's praise.
However, he also expressed his support for Maia Sandu, the pro-EU president of Moldova, in response to claims that Russia was attempting to topple the current administration.
By rescinding a 2012 decree that supported Moldova's sovereignty in deciding the fate of Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova where Russian troops are stationed, President Putin exacerbated tensions in the country on Tuesday.
President Biden made a special effort to reiterate American support for one of the alliance's most important commitments before he meets with the leaders of nine nations on its eastern flank on Wednesday.
Members of NATO promise to defend any other member who is attacked under Article 5. Mr. Biden claimed that the US was "rock solid" in its commitment to both the alliance and Article 5.
An attack against one is an attack against all, as every member of NATO and Russia are aware of. ".
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, traveled to Ukraine for the first time after Mr. Biden's visit there on Tuesday. She said Ukrainians could count on Italy while visiting the towns of Bucha and Irpin, where Russian troops killed hundreds of civilians: "We have been with you since the beginning and we will be until the end."
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