Russia is issuing a stark warning to America not to build up or maintain nuclear capacities or military facilities in former Soviet bloc nations as Congress prepares to pass a bill next week that would send up to $10 billion more in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said U.S. nuclear weapons should have already been returned to American soil from European states like Romania and Poland.
‘It is unacceptable for us that U.S. nuclear weapons still remain in a number of European states in contradiction to the basic points of the Non-Proliferation Treaty,’ he was quoted by TASS as saying during a video address Tuesday to the Geneva conference on disarmament.
‘The bad practice of joint nuclear missions with the participation of non-nuclear NATO states continues. During such missions, the use of nuclear weapons against Russia is being practiced,’ Lavrov continued. ‘U.S. nuclear weapons must have long been returned home, and the corresponding infrastructure in Europe must have long been eliminated.’
President Biden is poised, according to The New York Times, to take credit during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night for the sweeping global sanctions that hit Russia following its full-scale invasion into Ukraine last week.
His address was supposed to focus on his domestic agenda, especially after he failed to get through Congress his Build Back Better plan, but with the waging conflict between Russia and Ukraine, priorities have shifted.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (on screen) said during a video address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday that U.S. nuclear capabilities need to be removed from European countries
Diplomats and ambassadors walked out as Lavrov’s pre-recorded message played and said: ‘It is unacceptable for us that U.S. nuclear weapons still remain in a number of European states in contradiction to the basic points of the Non-Proliferation Treaty’
The warning comes as Biden (left) prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night and take credit for the massive global response to Russia invading Ukraine. Biden also said Monday that Americans should not fear nuclear war with Russia after Putin (right) put his country’s nuclear forces on high alert
Kyiv endured another night of bombing on Monday before satellite images revealed the huge column of tanks headed for the city, with Putin’s men trying to cut off the capital and bomb it into submission
A convoy of Russian tanks, artillery pieces, fighting vehicles and support trucks now stretches all the way from Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv, to the village of Prybirs’k some 40 miles away (part of the convoy is seen, right)
And while Biden has received praise for his response to Russia’s invasion, there are many who still say he isn’t doing enough to directly punish President Vladimir Putin for ignoring western warnings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional appeal Tuesday for his country to be admitted to the European Union as it endures an increasingly bloody onslaught by Russia.
He raised a one-fisted salute and declared ‘glory to Ukraine’ as the European parliament gave him a long round of applause.
The Ukrainian president addressed parliamentarians in Brussels via video from Kyiv, which is currently facing down a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and artillery seemingly intent on surrounding and bombing the city into submission.
Zelensky urged the EU to recognize Ukraine as a member – a move sure to infuriate Putin – saying his nation has ‘proved that we are your equals’ and it is now time to ‘prove that you are at our side’.
Congress is preparing to pass a bill next week sending up to $10 billion in humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine as it continues to face a full-scale attack from Russia. Ukrainian emergency service personnel gather outside City Hall following shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine on Tuesday, March 1
‘Glory to Ukraine’: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a one-fisted salute to the European parliament as he makes an impassioned plea to join the bloc as his country faces down an increasingly bloody Russian invasion
The body gave Zelensky a standing ovation. Pictured: EU Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen applauds the end of Zelensky’s speech, after he said that Ukrainians were sacrificing their lives for the freedoms that Europe represents and pleaded for his country to be admitted to the European Union
It came as Ukraine claimed that Belarusian troops have now entered the war, as Russia’s close ally helps tighten the noose.
‘I can no longer say hello or good evening because every day is the last day,’ he added. ‘Lives are being sacrificed for values, for rights, for freedom, to have the same equality that you enjoy. We will win, I’m sure. I would like to hear you say that Ukraine’s choice to be part of Europe is also your choice. We want to be members of the EU. Without you, Ukraine will be alone.’
Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on high alert on Sunday, but Biden assured on Monday that Americans that they should not be worried about nuclear war.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki later said the White House sees ‘no reason’ to change its nuclear posture.
‘We think provocative rhetoric like this is dangerous, adds to the risk of miscalculation, should be avoided, and we’ll not indulge in it,’ Psaki said during her daily press briefing.
‘We are assessing President Putin’s directive and at this time we see no reason to change our own alert levels,’ she continued.
Putin reasoned that ‘aggressive statements’ by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) led him to ratchet up his nuclear defenses, which raised concerns that the invasion of Ukraine could intentionally or mistakenly lead to a global nuclear war.
With the March 11 funding deadline quickly approaching, the House and Senate appropriation committees are on track to pass a hugh omnibus spending bill for Fiscal Year 2022 next week that will include billions in aid in Ukraine.
The price tag could reach as high as $10 billion for a mix of humanitarian and military aid, lawmakers revealed.
In classified congressional briefings with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, lawmakers were warned about Ukraine’s weapons shortage.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova met with senators Monday evening to ask for an immediate shipment of more weapons to Kyiv, including Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
U.S. forces were sent to Romania and Poland – as well as other Baltic states – to help bolster forces in NATO ally countries in the midst of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division unload humanitarian goods in Jasionka, Poland on February 25 in preparation for evacuees from Ukraine
‘It’s no secret that they need more help,’ Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told reporters. ‘They’ve got the weapons they need right now, but they’re going to run out soon.’
‘We’ve got to get a supplemental passed quickly,’ he urged.
Murphy, a senator from Connecticut who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, revealed on Twitter after a ‘classified briefing on Ukraine’ that the U.S. is working with its allies in order to seize Putin’s assets.
‘The U.S. and allies are coordinating to not only freeze the assets of Putin and his oligarch allies, but to seize those assets as well. This is likely a further step than Putin’s inner circle anticipated,’ Murphy wrote on Twitter noting that it was just ‘a few takeaways that I can share.’
Ge shared a few other nuggets in the Twitter thread, including that Russia has fallen behind on their timeline for invasion due to ‘fierce’ Ukrainian resistance as well as failure of Moscow’s equipment and logistics.
‘Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security are pressing hard for Congress to end the continuing resolution and get a budget passed. There is no way for our national security agencies to be nimble enough to support Ukraine if they are operating on the 2020/21 budget,’ Murphy added in a follow-up tweet.
