Ukraine war live updates: Biden says ‘Kyiv stands strong;’ Putin suspends nuclear arms treaty with U.S.

WNBA star Brittney Griner re-signed a contract to play for the Phoenix Mercury, NBC News confirmed.

Griner was released from a Russian penal colony in December after she was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on drug charges.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who played professional basketball in Russia during the offseason, had vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage.

Her lawyers at the time said Griner only uses cannabis medically and unintentionally packed the cannabis canisters in her suitcase because the professional athlete was in a hurry.

Under Russian law, the charge carried a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. In August, Griner was found guilty and sentenced to nine years. She was also ordered to pay 1 million rubles, approximately $16,301.

In October, a Russian court upheld Griner’s prison sentence and the U.S. athlete was later transferred to a penal colony.

— Amanda Macias

The foreign ministers of G-7 member countries said that the group will impose additional sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine.

“We will impose further economic costs on Russia, and on individuals and entities – inside and outside of Russia – that provide political or economic support to these violations of international law,” the group wrote in a statement.

“We reiterate our condemnation of Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric. It will not distract or dissuade us from supporting Ukraine, for as long as necessary,” wrote the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S. and the High Representative of the European Union.

The ministers did not elaborate on the upcoming economic measures.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for his remarks in Warsaw, Poland ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Thank you POTUS and all of America for your leadership in consolidating the world in support of freedom and for vital assistance to Ukraine. Together, we are going to a common victory and we must ensure it already this year,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

— Amanda Macias

During President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv, the American leader announced nearly $500 million more in military aid to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the decision to send U.S.-made Abrams main battle tanks “the foundation for establishing a tank coalition.”

After weeks of political maneuvering, the U.S., Germany and the U.K. have all pledged to send modern tanks to Ukraine, which includes 31 Abrams, the Leopard 2 and the Challenger 2.

Here’s a quick look at Biden’s trip to Kyiv and the mighty tanks headed to Ukraine’s frontlines:

— Brad Howard, Jeff Morganteen and Amanda Macias

More than 8 million Ukrainians have become refugees and moved to neighboring countries since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago, the UN Refugee Agency estimates.

More than 1.5 million of those refugees have relocated to Poland, according to data collected by the U.N. Refugee Agency.

“The escalation of conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance. In the first five weeks, more than four million refugees from Ukraine crossed borders into neighboring countries and many more have been forced to move inside the country,” the agency wrote.

— Amanda Macias

Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said Russia suffered a budget deficit of $47 billion last year, due in part to coordinated global sanctions.

“This was the second highest deficit the country has experienced in the post-Soviet era. The best educated, most productive Russian citizens have left, which will dramatically reduce the economic capacity of the country,” Adeyemo said in remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

“Industrial production has declined in Russia for 9 straight months and we are planning to take additional steps to further decimate the Kremlin’s industrial base,” Adeyemo added.

Adeyemo said that a coalition price cap on oil has dropped Russia’s monthly budget revenues to their lowest level since 2020, about 46% below where they were a year ago.

“The Russian Finance Ministry has been forced to nearly triple its daily foreign currency sales to make up for the shortfall,” he said.

“Put simply, we are making the Kremlin’s choice—between funding its illegitimate war and propping up its economy—harder each day,” Adeyemo added.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. President Joe Biden used the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to announce that the annual NATO summit will take place in the United States in 2024.

“Next year, I will host every member of NATO for our 2024 summit in the United States,” Biden said during a speech in Warsaw on the Ukraine war.

The 2024 NATO summit will “celebrate the 75th anniversary of the strongest defensive alliance in the history of the world,” Biden said.

“Let there be no doubt: The commitment of the United States to our NATO alliance and Article Five is rock solid, and every member of NATO knows it,” said the president.

“And Russia knows it, as well,” he added.

Biden spoke in the Polish capital just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a rare public address in Moscow, where he defended his decision to invade Ukraine.

— Christina Wilkie

President Joe Biden reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia in an address days before the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

“Brutality will never grind down the will of the free,” Biden said in remarks from Warsaw’s Royal Castle.

“Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia,” the U.S. president added.

Biden also said that the U.S. would announce additional sanctions on Russia in coordination with G-7 members and other allies.

Biden’s remarks follow a surprise 23-hour visit to Ukraine’s war-weary capital on Monday. Under extraordinary secrecy, Biden traveled by plane, then by train for 10 hours overnight to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

While in Kyiv, Biden announced a weapons package worth nearly $500 million and hailed Zelenskyy’s leadership as his country fights the biggest air, sea and ground assault in Europe since World War II. 

— Amanda Macias

U.S. President Joe Biden hailed Ukraine’s resistance to the yearlong Russian invasion of its land, and reminded his audience in Warsaw that just 12 months ago, Ukraine’s long-term independence from Russia seemed unlikely.

“One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” said Biden.

“Well, I just came back from a visit to Kyiv and I can report that Kyiv stands strong. Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall and most importantly, it stands free,” he said.

Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin grossly underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian people and the unity of NATO.

“He thought he’d get the Finlandization of NATO,” said Biden, referring to Finland’s decades of neutrality and its reluctance, until now, to join NATO. “Instead, he got the NATOization of Finland and Sweden.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted the two Scandinavian countries to apply for NATO membership last year.

— Christina Wilkie

At least 8,006 civilians have died and 13,287 have been injured in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24, according to the United Nations.

“Our data is only the tip of the iceberg,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk wrote in a statement releasing the figures.

“The toll on civilians is unbearable. Amid electricity and water shortages during the cold winter months, nearly 18 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Some 14 million people have been displaced from their homes,” Turk said.

Turk said that about 90% of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area. He added that the actual figures are likely substantially higher because armed conflict can delay fatality reports.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to deliver remarks about the anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine at 11:30 a.m. ET. Biden will speak from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle following a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Biden’s remarks come on the heels of a surprise 23-hour visit to Ukraine’s war-weary capital. Under extraordinary secrecy, Biden traveled by plane, then train to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“This is the largest land war in Europe in three-quarters of a century and you’re succeeding against all and every expectation except your own. We have every confidence that you’re going to continue to prevail,” Biden said while in Kyiv.

“One year later, Kyiv stands and Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you,” Biden added.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv participated in the first high-level talks with the European Union and NATO, a significant step as Ukraine works toward its membership in both groups.

“Together with Jens Stoltenberg and Joseph Borrell we agreed to launch a coordination mechanism linking our defense industries, procurers, and governments,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter, referencing key NATO and EU officials.

“More security assistance for Ukraine, more sustainable production, faster deliveries,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

President Biden on Tuesday reiterated the U.S.’s “unwavering” support for Ukraine during talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.

“As I told President Zelenskyy when we spoke in Kyiv yesterday, I can probably say that our support for Ukraine remains unwavering,” Biden said.

Biden was in Warsaw ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Friday. On Monday, he made a surprise trip to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy.

Duda said Biden’s visit to Poland was an important sign of the U.S.’s commitment to maintaining security in Europe.

“Your visit is an important sign of security, a signal of U.S. responsibility for the security of the world and Europe. America can keep the world order,” Duda said during the meeting.

Six civilians were killed and 12 wounded in Russian shelling of a market and public transport stop in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday, Ukraine’s military said.

The southern military command said in a statement that Kherson came under fire as Russian President Vladimir Putin was delivering a speech in which he depicted his country as not being at war with the Ukrainian people.

“The Russian army is heavily shelling Kherson. Again mercilessly killing the civilian population,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app, confirming the death toll.

“The world has no right to forget for a single moment that Russian cruelty and aggression know no bounds,” he said in a post below photographs of bodies on the pavement, broken shop fronts and a transport stop that had been destroyed.

Local authorities said the city had come under attack from Russian forces using Grad multiple rocket launchers.

Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November after nearly eight months of occupation by Russian forces who seized it soon after invading Ukraine a year ago.

The city of Kherson and surrounding areas are now under almost constant bombardment from Russian forces on the opposite side of the Dnipro River.

— Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in a nuclear arms control treaty was “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible.”

“The announcement by Russia that it’s suspending participation is deeply unfortunate and irresponsible,” Blinken told reporters in Athens.

“We’ll be watching carefully to see what Russia actually does. We’ll of course make sure that in any event, we are postured appropriately for the security of our own country and that of our allies,” he added.

— Karen Gilchrist

Putin’s state of the nation address Tuesday proved that he is in “a completely different reality,” a senior aide to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said.

During his speech, Putin said Ukraine and the West had “started the war,” citing the expansion of NATO and new European anti-rocket defense systems as justification for Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

“He is in a completely different reality, where there is no opportunity to conduct a dialogue about justice and international law,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters following the speech, which latest almost two hours.

“Russia is at a dead end. In the most desperate situation. Everything that Russia will do next will only worsen its situation,” he said.

“This means that chaos both on the battlefield and inside Russia will grow.”

— Karen Gilchrist

Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty with the U.S. that limits the two sides’ strategic nuclear arsenals.

“In this regard, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty,” Putin told lawmakers towards the end of a major speech to parliament, nearly one year into the war in Ukraine.

The New START treaty was signed in Prague in 2010, came into force the following year and was extended in 2021 for five more years just after U.S. President Joe Biden took office.

It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts. Together, Russia and the United States hold around 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads – enough to destroy the planet many times over.

— Reuters

The United Nations Human Rights Office said Tuesday that verified figures showed 8,006 civilians had been killed and a further 13,287 injured since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

Matilda Bogner, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, warned, however, that the real figures would be much higher.

— Karen Gilchrist

Putin made a slew of apparent barbs at his sanctioned oligarch familiars on Tuesday, in remarks labelling them as traitors of the Russian state.

The Russian president claimed elite business people were now paying the price for taking advantage of Western influence and the liberalization of financial markets following the fall of the Soviet Union to move wealth out of the country.

“Instead of creating employment here, this capital was spent buying elite real-estate, yachts,” he said. “Some came to Russia,” he noted, “but the first wave was spent on consuming Western goods.”

Putin said that sanctions leveled against many Russian business people in the wake of the Russia-styled “special military operation” in Ukraine showed that the West was not a sanctuary.

“The latest events have demonstrated that the West was just a ghost in terms of being a safe haven,” he said.

“Those who saw Russia as just a source of income and were planning to live abroad, they saw that they just got robbed in the West,” he continued.

“Many of you will remember that I joked you will be running around Western courts, trying to save your wealth in the West, and this is exactly what happened.”

“None of the simple citizens of this country were sorry about those who lost massive bank accounts in the West,” he added.

— Karen Gilchrist

President Putin said Tuesday that Western allies are “punishing” themselves with the sanctions levied against Russia.

In his defiant address, Putin said the West had “not achieved success” in its military and economic “aggression” against Russia — nor would it.

“The initiators of the sanctions are punishing themselves. They provoked a growth of prices in their own countries, closures of factories, collapse of energy sector. They are telling their citizens it’s the Russians who are to blame,” he said, according to a translation of the speech.

Putin also said the sanctions are an attempt to destabilize Russian society, but he insisted that its economy remains strong. He added that Russia has all the financial resources it requires to guarantee its national security and development.

“Sanctions are just a means, but the objective as the West says and I say directly to force our citizens to suffer. They are trying to destabilize our society from inside, but their attempts were not justified and were not successful,” he said.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced a state fund to support veterans and the families of fallen soldiers in response to Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Putin said the fund would provide “social, medical and psychological support” to soldiers and their families.

Announcing the fund during his state of the nation address, Putin said the funds would contribute toward education, entrepreneurship, career development and home care.

“We all understand, I understand how unbearably hard it is now for the wives, sons, daughters of fallen soldiers, their parents, who raised worthy defenders of the Fatherland,” he said.

Putin did not disclose the value of the fund. The announcement comes days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday claimed Western allies “started the war” in Ukraine during his annual state of the nation address.

Speaking in Moscow, Putin accused the West of developing military contingents on the border of Russia.

“I would like to repeat, they started the war, and we used the force in order to stop it,” Putin said according to a translation of the speech.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Moscow has referred to the conflict as a “special military operation.”

“We did everything possible in order to resolve this problem in a peaceful way. We were patient in our negotiations to come out of this terrible conflict. However behind our backs a completely different scenario was being prepared,” he said.

— Karen Gilchrist

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday dubbed President Putin’s war a “strategic failure.”

“One year after President Putin attacked Ukraine it is clear that his war has been a strategic failure in every way,” Blinken said during a news conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in Athens.

It comes as Putin is due to deliver his assessment of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine during a state of the nation address in Moscow.

— Karen Gilchrist

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday called on certain countries to stop “fueling the fire” over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in an apparent retort against Western allies.

“China is deeply worried that the Ukraine conflict will continue to escalate or even spiral out of control,” Qin said during a speech at the foreign ministry in Beijing. “We urge certain countries to immediately stop fueling the fire.”

The comments come as the U.S. warned China against providing military support to Russia, which Beijing has said it is not doing.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi is due to visit Moscow Tuesday and potentially meet with President Vladimir Putin.

President Xi Jinping is also expected to deliver a “peace speech” Friday, on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

— Karen Gilchrist

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv Tuesday to reiterate her country’s support for Ukraine as she seeks to smooth tensions in her right-wing alliance.

The trip comes a week after her coalition partner Silvio Berlusconi, the Forza Italia leader, blamed Zelenskyy for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Her visit comes a day after U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital Monday, days ahead of the war’s one-year anniversary.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a closely-watched speech at 9:00 a.m. London time in which he is expected to detail his latest thinking on what he continues to refer to as the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

“At such a crucial and very complicated juncture in our development, our lives, everyone is waiting for a message in the hope of hearing an assessment of what is happening, an assessment of the special military operation,” a Kremlin spokesman told state television, per a Reuters translation.

The speech will be made in Moscow to Russia’s two houses of parliament as well as military commanders and soldiers.

It comes as the war approaches its one-year anniversary, on Feb. 24.

— Jenni Reid