Putin suspends last nuke treaty with US
"Western elites are not hiding their goal -- to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. It means to be done with us once and for all."
US President Joe Biden yesterday said Ukraine would "never be a victory for Russia", hours after President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow's participation in a nuclear arms treaty with Washington accusing the West of trying to destroy Russia.
"A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people's love of liberty, brutality will never grind down the will of the free," Biden said as he delivered a speech in Poland ahead of the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia -- never," Biden told the crowd of several thousand people gathered outside the Royal Castle.
Speaking a day after his surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital, Biden said: "Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and most importantly it stands free".
Earlier, in his scathing state of the nation address, Putin also vowed that Russia would keep fighting in Ukraine and "systematically" achieve its aims.
Speaking nearly a year to the day since ordering an invasion that has triggered the biggest confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis, Putin accused the West of trying to destroy Russia.
"The elites of the West do not hide their purpose -- to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. It means to be done with us once and for all," he said.
"The West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin said today… Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia – never."
"But they also cannot fail to realise that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield," a defiant Putin told his country's political and military elite.
Cautioning the United States that it was stoking the war into a global conflict, Putin said that Russia was suspending participation in the New START Treaty, the last major arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington.
Signed by then-US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in 2010, the treaty caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy. It was due to expire in 2026.
"I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty," said Putin.
The Russian leader said, without citing evidence, that some people in Washington were thinking about resuming nuclear testing. Russia's defence ministry and nuclear corporation should therefore be ready to test Russian nuclear weapons if necessary, he said.
"Of course, we will not do this first. But if the United States conducts tests, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed," Putin said.
"A week ago, I signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty. Are they going to stick their nose in there too, or what?"
Russia and the United States have vast arsenals of nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War and remain, by far, the biggest nuclear powers. Between them, they hold 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.
The New START Treaty limited both sides to 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. Both sides met the central limits by 2018.
In warsaw, Biden also responded to an anti-West speech made by Putin.
"The West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin said today," Biden said. "Millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbours are not the enemy."
Biden stressed the West's continued support for Ukraine.
Putin "thought autocrats like himself were tough and leaders of democracy were soft and then he met the iron will of America and nations everywhere that refused to accept a world governed by fear," he said.
"There should be no doubt: our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided and we will not tire."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia's decision was "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible" but that Washington was still willing to talk about the issue.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the move meant that "the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled".
Biden is due to meet today with the leaders of nine eastern Nato members which have been staunch supporters of Ukraine and where there are fears of the conflict spilling over.
In his speech, Putin accused the US-led Nato alliance of fanning the flames of the conflict in the mistaken belief that it could defeat Moscow in a global confrontation.
"They intend to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation. This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country," Putin said.
When the Kremlin launched the offensive in Ukraine, its so-called "special military operation" was planned to be a rapid conquest leading to capitulation and the installation of a pro-Russian regime.
Since then, Russia has been forced to give up ground in Ukraine but has kept up a barrage of drone and missile attacks and the military and civilian toll has spiralled.
According to the latest estimates from Norway, the conflict has wounded or killed 180,000 Russian soldiers and 100,000 Ukrainian troops.
Other Western sources estimate the conflict has caused 150,000 casualties on each side.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday blasted Russia for "mercilessly killing" civilians in the southern city of Kherson as local officials reported at least five deaths following strikes there.
Kherson is the capital of one of the four regions -- along with Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia -- that Russia claims to have annexed but has never fully controlled.
China, whose top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Moscow yesterday, has cautioned against any nuclear escalation to the Ukraine war.
Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Beijing would "urge the countries concerned to stop adding fuel to the fire as soon as possible".
China has sought to position itself as a neutral party, while maintaining close ties with its strategic ally Russia.
Stoltenberg yesterday echoed US concerns that China could supply Russia with weapons to help it pursue its campaign in Ukraine.
The Western allies worry they are falling behind in supplying enough shells for Kyiv's artillery to fend off a renewed Russian offensive.
But if the fears -- first raised by Washington -- that China is preparing to deliver weapons to Russia are realised, they could fall even further behind in what would be a growing arms supply race.
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