'Beginning of Russian invasion', says Biden over Donetsk recognition as independent State

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday slammed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for recognizing the independence of breakaway regions Donetsk and Luhansk and said, "Russia has carved out a major chunk of Ukrainian territory". According to POTUS Biden Putin was doing intentionally in order to take more forces on the Ukrainian regions. He affirmed Russia's action as a major step for inciting war against its neighbouring country, Ukraine. "Russia just announced that it is carving out a big chunk of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is setting up a rationale to take more territory by force," said Biden during a brief press conference on Tuesday. "This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," he added.

Terming the action of Putin a flagrant violation of international law, Biden asked who gave him (Putin) the power to declare the disputed regions as two new republics. Further, Biden demanded the international community to impose stringent sanctions on Moscow. "Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbours? This is a flagrant violation of international law and it demands a firm response from the international community," Biden said in the presser which was earlier supposed to start at 1 pm (local time).

US would continue to provide defensive assistance to Ukraine, says Biden

As President Putin announced to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, Biden said that the United States would continue to provide defensive assistance to Ukraine. Further, he revealed that the American soldiers and equipment are currently stationed in Europe and added the resources will be deployed to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. "Let me be clear, these are totally defensive moves on our part. We have no intention of fighting Russia. We want to send an unmistakable message though, that the United States, together with our allies, will defend every inch of NATO territory and abide by the commitments we made to NATO," he added.

Further, Biden announced the country was ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs.
He announced to join the 27 European Union members who unanimously agreed to impose their own initial set of sanctions targeting Russian officials over their actions in Ukraine. "We have cut off Russia’s government from Western finance. It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either," Biden affirmed.
It is pertinent to mention here that Putin decided on the matter of recognition despite West's repetitive warnings and speculations that Moscow could use as a pretext for an attack on Kyiv. According to the United States, Russian troops assembled on frontiers of Ukraine and POTUS Joe Biden even announced that Mr Putin has already decided to harm his neighbouring country, Ukraine. 

With inputs from AP

Image: AP