Biden news - live: President speaks with Zelensky amid warnings Putin’s forces could storm Kyiv within hours
Follow the latest updates on President Joe Biden’s address to the nation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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President Joe Biden has called Russian president Vladimir Putin an “aggressor” who “chose this war” as he announced a series of “major” sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.
Mr Biden said the sanctions will have a “long-term” impact on Moscow as the US was restricting large Russian banks and targeting families who are close to the Kremlin.
Mr Biden’s address to the nation came after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning with a series of missile attacks on cities including the capital Kiev.
Since then, dozens of Ukrainians have been killed, civilians are fleeing their homes, global markets have plunged and Russian forces have seized the site of the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
The United Nations meanwhile is expected to vote on a US-drafted resolution condemning Russia on Friday.
Though the resolution is likely to fail with Russia exercising its veto, US and its allies want to send the message that Russia stands isolated for its actions.
In addition, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley has also also had a phone conversation with allies in Europe today to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Graham reacts with dismay to Biden pick: The ‘radical left’ won again
Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina reacted with anger on Friday after reports broke that Ketanji Brown Jackson was Joe Biden’s pick to be the next justice on the Supreme Court.
Mr Graham and other Republicans as well as a top ally of Mr Biden himself, Jim Clyburn, had been pushing the president to nominate Michelle Childs, a federal district court judge in South Carolina. Her candidacy for the role was opposed by some progressives as a result of her sentencing record.
“If media reports are accurate, and Judge Jackson has been chosen as the Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Breyer, it means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again. The attacks by the Left on Judge Childs from South Carolina apparently worked,” complained Mr Graham.
Mr Biden does not need any Republican votes in the Senate to confirm Ms Brown Jackson to the bench if all 50 Democrats side with his pick.
Republican who previously supported Ketanji Brown Jackson says prior vote doesn’t matter
One of a handful of centrist Republican senators seen as a potential swing vote on some issues in the upper chamber said on Friday that her previous vote to support Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the federal appeals court on which she currently serves should not be taken as an indication that she will support the justice’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
“It is at a level that commands its own evaluation separate and above everything that we have considered to date,” Sen Lisa Murkowski said.
Joe Biden to nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson to Scotus
Joe Biden will nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson, a justice with the DC federal Court of Appeals, to the Supreme Court according to multiple news outlets.
Mr Biden is set to make the nomination of Ms Jackson, a former clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer whom she would be set to replace, at a White House event later in the day.
Ms Jackson will be the first Black woman nominated or confirmed to the Court. She will also be the second-youngest justice sitting on the bench if confirmed, behind only Amy Coney Barrett, the final justice confirmed under Donald Trump’s presidency.
Biden to nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson as first Black woman Supreme Court justice
The White House is set to announce the nomination ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address
Asia-Pacific region joins US, EU, UK on sanctions
The United States, UK and the European Union were joined by countries across the Asia-Pacific region on Thursday and Friday in condemning Russia for invading Ukraine.
Countries including Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand all announced similar economic sanctions against Russia’s banks and companies as punishment for Vladimir Putin’s war. “Japan must clearly show its position that we will never tolerate any attempt to change the status quo by force,” prime minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Friday while announcing meaures targeting Moscow. Taiwan, like Japan, announced that it would ban exports of semiconductor chips to Russia, which will likely hurt Russian companies and its military, the Associated Press reported.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern meanwhile described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “unthinkable” in an address to the nation, which also included economic measures targeting Moscow.
State department has ‘no words’ for Putin praise
The US state department rebuked Donald Trump and his former secretary of state Mike Pompeo for siding with Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Asked for his reaction to praise of Russia’s president, state department spokesperson Ned Price said he had “no response....In fact, I have no words.”
It follows comments from Republicans and figures on the far right who have accused US president Joe Biden for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Those remarks – including those by Mr Trump and Mr Pompeo – have been carried on Russian state television in recent days as Mr Putin tries to explains why Moscow has invaded a neighbouring country without provocation.
The Independent’s Justin Vallejo has more:
State Department has ‘no words’ in reaction to Trump’s praise of Putin
‘Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ gushed former president Donald Trump
Nato considering response force activation
Nato leaders are expected to consider activating the Nato Response Force when they meet on Friday.
The force can number up to 40,000 troops and according to reports would include an additional 8,5000 US troops being deployed, Politico reported on Thursday.
It comes after Nato put 5,000 troops on heightened alert in recent months, as Russian forces began to build on the Ukraine border before invading.
Although 30 of Nato’s members are already supplying military equipment to Ukraine, Nato as an organisation is not. That is despite Ukraine asking for assistance in defending itself from Russian aggression.
Biden ‘looked on from a distance’, says Zelensky
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky accused the US of standing by as Russia invaded his country.
Mr Zelensky, who appeared to hit out at president Joe Bided, blasted economic sanctions as not being enough to get Russian troops out of his country.
“This morning, we are defending our country alone,” said Mr Zelensky on Friday. “Just like yesterday, the most powerful country in the world looked on from a distance”.
“Russia was hit with sanctions yesterday, but these are not enough to get these foreign troops off our soil. Only through solidarity and determination can this be achieved”.
The Independent’s Harriet Sinclair has the latest:
Zelensky says Biden ‘looked on from a distance’ as Russia invaded Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused the US of standing by as Russia invaded Ukraine, appearing to hit out at President Joe Biden’s actions as he blasted sanctions as not being enough to get Russian troops out of the country.
Did US intel on Russia make a difference?
Critics pointed to US intelligence failures in Iraq, where weapons of mass destruction were not found after 9/11, when the Biden amdnistration began warning about Russia.
An invasion, which began on Thursday morning, has so far played out along lines set out by the Biden administration since as far as back as December – surprising even those in the Republican Party, as The Associated Press reports.
Whether or not the US’s warnings were enough to change Vladimir Putin’s mind, remains to be seen. For now, the assault against Ukraine continues.
US intel predicted Russia's invasion plans. Did it matter?
For months, the White House repeatedly released its intelligence findings about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to attack Ukraine
‘I think they need to go all-out’, says Ukrainian-US diaspora
There are more than one million people of Ukrainian descent in the United States – many of whom have begun making donations to charities and groups working with their friends and families back home.
On Thursday, America’s Ukrainian diaspora called for president Joe Biden to go further with his sanctions against Moscow, which came closer to taking Kyiv.
“I’m sending money to support the medical groups in Ukraine so they can buy necessary things for people that will be wounded because there are already casualties,” said one Ukrainian-American to Reuters.
“I think they need to go all-out. Everything they can right now,” said another. “If they just tighten little by little it’s not going to do enough.”
Rudy Giuliani blames Biden for Russia invasion of Ukraine
Trump ally Rudy Giuliani wasted no time on Thursday by blaming US president Joe Biden for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Giuliani told a TV interview that a “demented” Mr Biden was to blame for he situation in Europe, because “he looks like a weakling, he’s always been a weakling”.
“His own cabinet secretary said he’s never gotten anything right in foreign policy,” said Mr Giuliani of Mr Biden. “He was always a dope – and you don’t think they don’t think he’s demented”.
The comments were not the first time Mr Giuliani, a disgraced former mayor of New York, has attacked Mr Biden for his age or mental ability – despite being only two years younger than the Democrat, at age 77.
Former US president Donald Trump said earlier that Vladimir Putin was “very savvy” and a “genius” for launching an invasion of Ukraine – a US and Nato ally – with the false pretext of “peacekeeping”.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Giuliani were widely condemned for their takes, as has Russia’s president been accused of bring war to Europe.
The Independent’s Harriet Sinclair has more:
Rudy Giuliani blames ‘demented’ Biden after Russia invades Ukraine
‘This was going to happen and he did everything he could to create it’
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