WASHINGTON. President Biden on Thursday said the United States was imposing what he called crippling sanctions on Russia for waging war with Ukraine, condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for “brutally attacking the people of Ukraine” overnight.
“Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war,” Mr. Biden said in a speech from the White House. “And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”
Mr. Biden said the United States would cut off Russia’s largest banks and major companies from Western financial markets and restrict technology exports to Russia, saying it would greatly reduce the country’s ability to prosper in the coming weeks, months and years.
He also said the United States was freezing trillions of dollars of Russian assets, including funds controlled by Russian elites and their families, forcing them to pay for what Mr. Biden called a “deliberate attack” on a free nation in Europe.
And the President said that he had authorized the sending of additional troops to the countries of Eastern Europe as part of the NATO alliance. While he once again vowed that US troops would not engage Russia in Ukraine, he said the United States would protect its NATO allies if Russia moved beyond Ukraine’s borders.
“The United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with all the strength of American power,” he said.
He warned the Americans that they would feel some economic pain from a Russian invasion, but said there was no doubt that the United States and its allies needed to respond aggressively to the invasion.
“America is standing up to bullies,” he said. “That’s who we are.”
At night, as Russian weapons began raining down on Ukrainian cities, Mr. Biden spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and promised to rally the world around supporting the beleaguered country.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Biden met with his national security team in the situation room. Officials said they discussed “how we will hold Russia accountable for the unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine.” He also met via video link with G7 leaders to coordinate a global response to the war in Europe launched by Mr. Putin.
Mr. Biden has been threatening for weeks with severe sanctions that could cripple the Russian economy, in the hope that Mr. Putin will abandon plans to invade his neighbor. Earlier this week, Mr. Biden authorized these sanctions when the Russian leader announced his intention to go to war.
But the president and European allies have refrained from the most aggressive sanctions and warned Mr. Putin that the punishment would be tougher if his tanks crossed the Ukrainian border.