源 稿 窗
在文章中双击或划词查词典
字号 +
字号 -
折叠显示
全文显示
U.S. President Joe Biden slapped another round of sanctions Thursday on Russia after President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine from the north, east and south - an onslaught that killed at least 57 Ukrainians and advanced rapidly on key cities, including the capital, Kyiv.
"Putin is the aggressor," Biden said at the White House after meeting virtually Thursday morning with leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations and the NATO alliance. "Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences."
The new U.S. sanctions target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors, and also include export controls. Biden said these measures will "squeeze Russia's access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come."
Watch President Biden's press conference:
NATO allies including Britain and the European Union also imposed more sanctions on Thursday.
The effect was felt almost immediately on global markets, where stocks slumped and commodity prices surged. Biden acknowledged that American motorists would see higher gasoline prices.
But Biden said, "This aggression cannot go unanswered. America stands up for freedom. This is who we are."
No media source currently available
He rebuked Putin for claiming in recent weeks that he was interested in negotiating with the U.S. and its allies over his security concerns. Putin claims the U.S.-led NATO military alliance formed after World War II poses a threat to Russia, and he demanded that Ukraine be barred from its quest to join the alliance.
"This was never about security," Biden said. "This was always about naked aggression, about Putin's desire for empire."
Now, Biden said, because of his attack on Ukraine, "Putin will be a pariah on the world stage."
The invasion is the biggest European onslaught since the end of World War II. In a predawn television address from the Kremlin, Putin termed it a "special military operation" aimed at the "demilitarization and denazification" of its southern neighbor, once a Soviet republic but an independent country since 1991.
The first volley struck at Ukrainian forces in the country's east early Thursday, the Ukrainian military said, and was followed by rocket strikes at multiple airports. As midnight struck in Europe, Ukraine's Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said 57 Ukrainians had been killed and 169 wounded.
According to U.S. officials, the Russian offensive, still in its initial phase, targeted Ukrainian defense positions with more than 160 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and airstrikes from fixed-wing aircraft.
Ukrainian cities
On Thursday, the usually active center of Kyiv - an ancient city known for its gold-domed cathedrals, wide boulevards and elegant architecture - was mostly deserted. In residential districts, lines formed at banks and outside food stores. Main roads leading out of the city were clogged with traffic headed west.
From Kyiv, VOA's Jamie Dettmer reported that a military airport west of the capital was struck early Thursday by attack helicopters. He added that a top official told him that "Russian military forces broke through into Ukraine in the Kyiv region at the Vilcha checkpoint," which is on the border with Belarus, a Russian ally where Putin has massed troops in recent weeks, claiming they were conducting military exercises.
A senior U.S. defense official told Pentagon reporters Thursday that the fighting appeared to be most intense in the second-largest city, Kharkiv, where additional airborne soldiers also appeared to move into the city. Russian troops have also been moving toward the southern city of Kherson, in what the defense official said appeared to be an effort to capture key population centers and "decapitate" Ukraine's government.
"We have seen indications that some Ukrainian units are fighting back," the official said.
But they will not be joined by American forces, Biden reiterated, stressing that U.S. forces have only been moved into NATO countries near Ukraine. He committed the U.S. military to fighting alongside NATO allies if Putin advanced his attacks past Ukraine to invade any of the 30 NATO countries. The Pentagon announced it was deploying 7,000 more U.S. troops to Germany to bolster NATO's force in Europe.
Calls for more sanctions
For now, NATO allies are countering with harsh words and what they say are ever-harsher sanctions on the Russian leader and his inner circle. Biden said sanctioning Putin's personal assets remained a possibility if warfare escalated further.
For weeks, Biden had been pushing for a diplomatic solution. On Thursday, he said there was a "total rupture" in U.S.-Russia relations.
The U.S. and several allies had already imposed a first tranche of sanctions Tuesday, after Putin declared the disputed eastern Ukrainian Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states, much as he appropriated Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called Russia's attack "amongst the darkest hours for Europe since the end of World War II." Speaking to reporters Thursday, Borrell said Ukraine needed "urgent assistance" and that the EU would "respond in the strongest possible terms."
Biden said he discussed the situation in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who asked him 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."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday that the international community needed to respond with "devastating sanctions on Russia," as well as sending weapons, military equipment, financial assistance and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Russia's attack a "grave breach of international law."
"We stand with the people of Ukraine at this terrible time," he said. "NATO will do all it takes to protect and defend all allies."
NATO leaders are due to meet Friday, and the alliance has activated its defense plans for member states in the region.
Lithuania, a NATO member, declared a state of emergency Thursday and ordered its army to deploy along its border with Belarus.
The next move?
Russia's U.N. ambassador, who also happens to be the president of the Security Council this month, presided over a late Wednesday meeting where Putin's actions were denounced by nearly every member.
"We don't know all the details today, but briefly, I'd like to inform you that from his statement it says the occupation of Ukraine is not in our plans," Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said. "The aim of the special operation is to protect the people who for eight-plus years have been suffering genocide from the Kyiv regime. And from this, we will demilitarize and degenocide Ukraine, and also hold accountable those who carried out so many crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian Federation."
A European diplomat said Security Council members were discussing a resolution that would make it clear that Russia was not complying with the U.N. charter, international law or Security Council Resolution 2202 - which endorsed the Minsk agreements - and would urge Russia to immediately return to compliance.
Russia would be expected to veto such a measure, but a strong number of members voting for it would increase Moscow's isolation in the council. Diplomats would then likely move quickly to the General Assembly, where it could be adopted without a threat of veto but with no legal backing.
White House correspondent Anita Powell, U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, State Department bureau chief Nike Ching, refugee correspondent Heather Murdock in Slovyansk and Jamie Dettmer in Kyiv contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.