President Joe Biden said the world will “hold Russia accountable” after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and allied states have immediately condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. What measures exactly will be taken still has yet to be fully fleshed out.
Biden is set to impose additional sanctions on Russia now that Ukraine has been invaded, and will spell out these sanctions today. The president is set to address the nation this afternoon, unveil the new measure that is supposed to cut Russia off from advanced technology, announce the new restrictions on large financial institutions and extend sanctions to additional members of Putin’s inner circles and closest allies.
The West has hoped that threats of intense economic punishments would dissuade Putin from a full-scale invasion. Now sanctions are meant to punish Putin’s actions, rather than prevent them.
There have been weeks, months, of predictions and warnings that Russian forces would launch an attack on its neighbor Ukraine. The attack began at dawn today, with troops now crossing the border to the north and south, and explosions hitting the countries’ biggest cities, including the capital city Kyiv.
Biden is meant to first confer with leaders from the G7 group about what sanctions everyone plans to impose. A coordinated strategy is hoped among the allied countries. US and European officials have spoken by phone as well to coordinate responses.
The EU said it will be imposing new sanctions on Russia, freezing assets, halting banks’ access to European financial markets, and targeting “Kremlin interests.” An emergency summit will occur this evening to discuss admitting Ukraine to the EU, something that Ukraine has long called for.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also promised massive sanctions to “hobble” Russia’s economy, saying that the UK will not just “look away,” and called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “barbaric.”
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