乔·拜登和美国高级官员周一谴责俄罗斯对乌克兰的最新空袭总统在一份声明中表示,袭击“只会进一步加强我们的承诺”,向乌克兰军队提供数十亿美元的援助和武器。
拜登、国务卿安东尼·布林肯和军方高级官员都发表了意见在罢工之后俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京称这是对周末爆炸的报复连接俄罗斯和克里米亚的关键桥梁2014年,普京从乌克兰吞并了这个有争议的半岛。
乌克兰官员表示,周日晚上,俄罗斯发射了12枚导弹,袭击了乌克兰的Zaporizhzhia居民区,周一早上,俄罗斯又发射了一系列导弹,袭击了基辅、利沃夫、哈尔科夫和其他城市的平民目标。
根据乌克兰国家紧急服务局的数据,在八个州和首都基辅,至少有11人死亡,64人受伤,同时几个城市的电力和能源等其他关键基础设施服务中断。
普京在周一的一次讲话中说,“已经从空中、陆地和海上对乌克兰的能源设施、军事指挥和通信进行了大规模的高精度远程武器打击。”“如果我国领土上继续发生恐怖袭击,俄罗斯将做出严厉回应,其规模与对俄罗斯联邦造成的威胁程度相当。任何人都不应该对此有任何怀疑。”
乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)迅速在社交媒体上分享了他的愤怒,哀悼俄罗斯军队的平民伤亡,就像他在八个月的战争中多次做的那样。(俄罗斯坚称,尽管有像本周这样的空袭记录,但它寻求避免以平民为目标。)
“世界再次看到了杀害我们人民的恐怖主义国家的真面目。在战场上&在和平的城市里。一个掩盖其真正血腥本质的国家&目标是谈论和平。它证明了解放是和平的唯一基础和安全,”泽伦斯基在一条推文中写道。
拜登在从特拉华州返回白宫时发表的一份声明中说,导弹袭击表明普京在“对乌克兰人民的非法战争”中“完全野蛮”。
白宫当天晚些时候说,拜登周一与泽伦斯基进行了交谈;拜登预计将于周二参加七国集团的虚拟会议,讨论局势。
白宫表示,在与泽伦斯基的通话中,拜登“向在这些毫无意义的袭击中丧生和受伤的人的亲人表示哀悼”,并“承诺继续向乌克兰提供自卫所需的支持,包括先进的防空系统。”
然而,Zelenskyy在推特上说,防空是至关重要的。他和乌克兰的其他人敦促美国设立所谓的禁飞区,以阻止俄罗斯的空袭。
但美国认为,这样一个直接的步骤可能会使冲突升级到乌克兰以外,成为一场大陆战争,如果不是全球战争的话。
总统上周警告可能的核“世界末日”鉴于普京在俄罗斯最近在乌克兰的一连串失败中反复调用他的国家的武器库。
白宫发言人说美国广播公司“本周”周日节目拜登没有提到任何迫在眉睫的威胁,而是试图反映“赌注非常高”。
周一,布林肯在自己的声明中表示,俄罗斯对乌克兰的攻击提出了一个“深刻的道德问题”,“国际社会有责任明确表示,普京总统的行为是完全不可接受的”
布林肯强调,美国认为普京应对流血事件负责。
布林肯说:“现在有一个人可以停止这场战争并撤出俄国军队:弗拉基米尔·普京。”。
据美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯(Ned Price)称,周一,他还与乌克兰外长迪米特罗·库勒巴(Dmytro Kuleba)通了电话。
据普莱斯称,在电话中,布林肯“赞扬乌克兰没有让普京总统击垮乌克兰的精神,同时指出,美国将继续提供至关重要的经济、人道主义和安全援助,以便乌克兰能够保卫自己,照顾自己的人民”。
美国陆军最高领导人同样对俄罗斯在乌克兰的最新袭击持批评态度。
这些官员周一在华盛顿由美国陆军协会(Association of u . s . Army)主办的陆军年度会议的新闻发布会上说,这些袭击让人想起了冲突的早期,这场冲突始于俄罗斯今年2月入侵,当时俄罗斯辩称,这是在执行必要的安全行动。
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a high level meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New Yor...Show moreundefined
布伦丹·麦克德米德/路透社
“令人恐怖的是,俄罗斯直接针对平民和平民的关键基础设施,”陆军部长克里斯蒂娜·沃穆斯在被记者问及此次袭击时表示。"但不幸的是,这正是普京总统和俄罗斯军方一直在做的事情."
“这非常非常令人担忧,”沃穆斯说。“但我认为这是我们从入侵一开始就看到的那种战术的延伸。”
'Horrific': Biden, more officials condemn Russia's sweeping strikes on Ukraine and reconfirm US aid
Joe Biden and top U.S. officials on Monday denouncedRussia's latest aerial assault across Ukraine, with the president saying in a statement that the attacks "only further reinforce our commitment" to supplying billions in aid and weapons to Ukrainian forces.
Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and leading military officials all spoke outin the wake of the strikesthat Russian President Vladimir Putin called retaliation for a weekend explosion that damageda key bridge linking Russia and Crimea, the disputed peninsula Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
On Sunday night, 12 Russian missile strikes hit residential Zaporizhzhia neighborhoods in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said, and on Monday morning another series of Russian missiles struck civilian targets in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and other cities.
At least 11 people died and 64 were wounded across eight oblasts and the capital of Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, while power and other critical infrastructure services like energy were interrupted in several cities.
"A massive strike of high-precision, long-range weapons has been delivered from air, land and sea on Ukraine's energy facilities, military command and communication," Putin said in a speech Monday. "In the case of continuing terrorist attack on our territory, the answers from Russia will be severe and by their scale correspond to the level of threat created for the Russian Federation. No one should have any doubts about that."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly shared his outrage on social media, lamenting the civilian casualties of Russia's military, as he has done repeatedly in the eight-month-old war. (Russia insists it seeks to avoid targeting civilians, despite the record of aerial strikes like those this week.)
"The world once again saw the true face of a terrorist state that is killing our people. On the battlefield& in peaceful cities. A country that covers its true bloody essence& goal with talks about peace. It proves that the liberation of is the only basis of peace& security," Zelenskyy wrote in a tweet.
In a statement issued as he was returning to the White House from Delaware, Biden said the missile attacks demonstrate Putin's "utter brutality" in the "illegal war on the Ukrainian people."
Biden spoke Monday with Zelenskyy, the White House said later that day; and Biden is expected to attend a virtual meeting on Tuesday of the Group of Seven countries to discuss the situation.
The White House said that in his call with Zelenskyy, Biden "conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks" and "pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems."
In a tweet, however, Zelenskyy said air defenses were critical. He and others in Ukraine have urged the U.S. to institute a so-called no-fly zone to deter Russian air strikes.
But the U.S. believes such a direct step could risk escalating the conflict beyond Ukraine and into a continental if not global war.
The president last weekwarned of possible nuclear "Armageddon,"given Putin's repeated invocations of his country's arsenal amid Russia's recent string of defeats in Ukraine.
A White House spokesman saidSunday on ABC's "This Week"that Biden was not referring to any imminent threat -- but was trying to reflect that "the stakes are very high."
In his own statement on Monday, Blinken said that Russia's attacks on Ukraine present a "profound moral issue" and the "international community has a responsibility to make clear that President Putin's actions are completely unacceptable."
Blinken stressed that the U.S. views Putin as responsible for the bloodshed.
"There is one person who can stop this war now and withdraw Russia's forces: Vladimir Putin," Blinken said.
He also spoke by phone on Monday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, his counterpart, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
On the call, Blinken "commended Ukraine for not allowing President Putin to break Ukraine's spirit while noting that the United States will continue to provide vital economic, humanitarian, and security assistance so Ukraine can defend itself and take care of its people," according to Price.
The U.S. Army's top leaders were likewise critical of the latest Russian attack in Ukraine.
Speaking Monday at a press conference at the Army's annual conference hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army in Washington, the officials said that the strikes were reminiscent of earlier days in the conflict, which began when Russia invaded in February, arguing that it was carrying out a necessary security operation.
"It is horrific that Russia is directly targeting civilians and critical infrastructure for civilians," Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said when asked by a reporter about the attack. "This is what unfortunately, though, President Putin and the Russian military have been doing."
"It's very, very concerning," Wormuth said. "But I think it's an extension of the kind of tactics that we've seen from the beginning of the invasion."