WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine saying the world will hold Russia accountable, for its attack on Ukraine”.
Biden said in a statement before he held a late-night call with Ukraine President Volodimyr Zelenskyy.
Stock futures in American markets plummeted as the news broke. The United Nations Security Council had just convened an emergency meeting Wednesday night.
Earlier, European and US officials scrambled to penalize Russia on Wednesday, responding to its deployments of troops to eastern Ukraine with a cascade of economic sanctions.
As concerns grew that Russian aggression would escalate, Ukraine warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Russia and to leave the country immediately if they are already there. The move came after Putin said Wednesday that Moscow is “always open” to diplomacy, days after ordering troops into eastern Ukraine and recognizing the independence of two self-declared republics in the region.
The European Union was set to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday, and was reportedly considering another round of sanctions on Russian individuals. Officials from the United Kingdom and United States also announced or threatened more retaliatory measures after they unveiled initial tranches this week.
President Joe Biden held a late-night secure call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian forces were launching a shocking multi-front assault on the country.
Biden and Zelenskyy have spoken often, and the United States had condemned Russia’s attack in the strongest terms.
Biden later said he had briefed Zelenskyy “on the steps we are taking to rally international condemnation,” and said the besieged president “asked me to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin’s flagrant aggression, and to stand with the people of Ukraine.”
US officials have also reportedly spoken to Zelenskyy’s team about potentially moving the president out of the capital if there is a Russian invasion of Kyiv. Zelenskyy has so far said he plans to remain in his country.
But intelligence reports suggest that one of Russia’s chief goals is to replace Zelenskyy’s democratically elected government with a puppet regime beholden to Moscow, which potentially makes Zelenskyy and his cabinet especially valuable targets for arrest or attack.
Read more: Vladimir Putin announces ‘military operation’ on Donbass region of Ukraine
