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Biden, Putin duel on Ukraine war anniversary
Biden's choice of phrase "as long as it takes" means the Ukraine war, one that Putin cannot afford to lose, may continue for many more years.
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Bro hug: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) greets visiting United States President Joe Biden on Feb. 20, 2023. The Ukraine visit comes at a crucial moment in the war as Biden looks to keep allies unified in their support for Ukraine. (AFP)
After a string of speeches from both sides in the run-up to the Ukraine invasion anniversary, the situation seems to be heating up.
Amid the striking images of United States President Joe Biden's surprise visit to Kyiv and his follow-up speech in Warsaw, where he raised the loud slogans “Kyiv stands strong” and “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia”, Russian President Vladimir Putin was also busy commemorating the war’s anniversary with three back-to-back retaliatory speeches in three days in which he announced the unilateral suspension of the New START treaty and announced the deployment of new Sarmat multi-warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) this year.
The western perception is that with no major battlefield victories to report in time for the anniversary and Biden trying to rebuke him by journeying to Kyiv, Putin has instead turned to nuclear rhetoric and suspended participation in the New START arms control treaty.
There is no denying that Putin was hoping that Russian troops would be able to capture Bakhmut ahead of the anniversary and he would be able to tell the war victories to the Russian public to mobilize their support for his Ukraine venture. But it did not happen.
Putin had no “good news” from the war front to share with the Russians, so he ultimately used these two symbolic actions, nuclear rhetoric and New START suspension, to add spice to his dueling speeches on the state of the nation and on Defenders of the Fatherland Day. Meanwhile, Biden reiterated American support for Ukraine in categorical terms and vowed that Washington was there for “as long as it takes”.
Despite such generous and passionate words from Biden, one cannot ignore the legitimate concerns and uncertainties surrounding the US approach to the ongoing conflict and its differences with Ukraine. These issues manifest in multiple ways, from the types of weapons the US is willing to provide to divergent scenarios about how the war may ultimately come to a close.
The phrase "as long as it takes" means different dogmas to different stakeholders, and signs indicate that this war, one that Putin cannot afford to lose, may continue for many more years, testing the West's tenacity with regard to Ukrainian sovereignty and stability.
