With explosions erupting in neighboring Lviv, in a clear act of contempt by the Kremlin, Biden told an audience in Warsaw that the West must arm itself “for a long battle ahead.” In what appeared to be a dramatic change in US policy in support of regime change in Moscow, Biden also appeared to be urging those around the Russian president to oust him from the Kremlin. “In the name of God, this man can not stay in power,” Biden said in his most belligerent speech since the war began a month ago. US officials later said Biden was talking about the need for Putin to relinquish power on Ukrainian soil and beyond. The American leader said that Putin “is bent on violence”. Addressing the Russian president directly, Biden said: “Do not even think about moving an inch of NATO territory.” “There is simply no excuse or challenge for Russia to choose war,” Biden told a rally at Poland’s presidential palace. “It is an example of one of the oldest human impulses, which uses brutal violence and misinformation to satisfy a longing for absolute power and control. “It is nothing more than a direct challenge to the rules-based international order created by the end of World War II.” Russian attack on Lviv on Saturday. Photo: Aleksey Filippov / AFP / Getty Images The attacks in Lviv, the homeland of Ukrainian nationalism and a key factor in the country’s break-up of the Soviet Union, bring the war directly to the doorstep of the European Union. At least five people were injured in six rocket-propelled grenades and black smoke billowed from the historic city’s belfry and cathedral domes as a fuel storage facility, a mile from the UNESCO World Heritage Site, was hit. A second goal was a defensive installation. both were close to residential areas. The timing of the attacks, only the third on targets in western Ukraine since the start of the war, and the closest to Lviv city center and its residential areas, was clearly designed to send a message to the White House. Hours earlier, Biden had met with Ukraine’s defense and foreign ministers for the first time since Putin announced his “special military operation” on February 24 and offered additional military support. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said one target hit by the Russians was “infrastructure” and “we are putting out a fire”, but declined to comment further. Sadovyi said the blasts were a way to “greet President Biden” who was in Poland. “The good thing is that no one was killed,” he added. Air raid sirens continued throughout the night, sending Lviv citizens to run to underground shelters. “We have re-emerged in the great struggle for freedom,” Biden said in a statement. “The battle between democracy and empire. Between freedom and repression. Between a rule-based class and a class governed by brutal violence. “This battle will not be won in days or months,” he added. “We have to strengthen ourselves for a long fight ahead of us.” Referring to Pope John Paul II’s “Do Not Be Afraid” speech in 1979 at the beginning and end, Biden’s speech linked the war in Ukraine to historic moments of Eastern European defiance against Soviet aggression. “The struggle for democracy did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Biden said. “Today Russia has strangled democracy and sought to do so elsewhere, not just in its homeland.” Speaking in Warsaw on Saturday, Joe Biden said: “There is simply no excuse for Russia to choose war.” Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images Asked by reporters what made him think when he saw Ukrainian refugees at the Narodowy Stadium earlier in the day, as he was dealing with Putin, Biden replied: “He is a butcher.” The Kremlin had hinted on Friday that it could limit its military ambitions, saying it was close to completing the “first phase” of its military campaign and would now focus on the full “liberation” of Donbass in eastern Ukraine. But the attacks in Lviv, 250 miles from where Biden was speaking, provided little evidence of any such plan. Speaking to the Observer, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodomyr Zelenskiy and chief negotiator in talks with Russia, said he did not believe the Kremlin was undermining its war goals. “They had poor business planning and realized that it was beneficial for them to encircle cities, cut off the main supply routes and force people there to run short of food, water and medicine,” he said, describing the siege of Mariupol. as a sperm tactic of psychological terror and exhaustion. Podolyak expressed skepticism about the Russian Defense Ministry’s claims that Moscow forces will now focus mainly on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. “Of course I do not believe it. They have no interests in Donbass. “Their main interests are Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and the south – to occupy Mariupol and close the Sea of Azov; we see them regrouping and preparing more troops for the mission,” he said. Podolyak later wrote on Twitter: “Lviv. Huge rocket attacks. Another great city of Ukraine with great historical value. Near the border. Embassies of many countries within the city. But the barbarians of the Russian Federation are not interested in anything – neither history, nor heritage, nor foreign diplomas / missions. “Will Europe continue to ‘make peace’?” Earlier in the day, the Kremlin raised the issue of the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine as Russian forces struggled to hold a key city in the south of the country. Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and vice-president of the Security Council, said Moscow could strike at an enemy using only conventional weapons, while Vladimir Putin’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the fire was “nuclear.” priority. The comments prompted Zelensky, who appeared via video link at the Doha Forum in Qatar, to warn that Moscow posed an imminent threat to the world. “Russia is thinking of boasting that it can destroy with nuclear weapons, not just one country but the whole planet,” he said. Russia has about 6,000 nuclear warheads – the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. Medvedev said Russia’s nuclear doctrine did not require a hostile state to use such weapons in the first place. Russia could use a nuclear deterrent in response to “an act of aggression against Russia and its allies that endangered the very existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons. use of conventional weapons “. Shoigu, who had not appeared for 12 days before a brief appearance on Friday and a speech to his generals on Saturday, also spoke about the nuclear threat contained in Russia’s arsenal. In a video posted on social media by the Russian Ministry of Defense, Shoigu said that maintaining “strategic nuclear readiness” was a priority. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says Russia is using more and more secret sabotage and reconnaissance teams in the Kiev region after failing to occupy the capital by conventional means. “The saboteurs are changing civilian clothes and using cars that have been stolen from the civilian population,” said a spokesman.
