WASHINGTON, October 10. /TASS/. The collective West intends to increase pressure on Russia, including through sanctions, as well as support Ukraine as long as necessary, US President Joe Biden said on Monday in connection with Russia's massive strike on energy, military command and communications facilities in Ukraine in response to the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, committed by the Kiev authorities.
"These attacks [by Russia] only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes," Biden said.
"Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression," Biden’s written statement reads.
The US leader claims that Russia is responsible for what he describes as "atrocities and war crimes," and stresses the United States’ determination to "hold [President Vladimir] Putin and Russia accountable" and to "provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom."
"The United States strongly condemns Russia’s missile strikes today across Ukraine, including in Kiev," Biden says. These attacks "destroyed targets with no military purpose," he argues.
He called on Russia to end immediately what he described as "unprovoked aggression" and to "remove its troops from Ukraine."
Putin announced earlier at a meeting with members of Russia’s Security Council that a massive strike had been launched on energy, military command and communications facilities in Ukraine. He also warned Kiev that if the Ukrainian authorities tried to continue terrorist attacks on Russian territory, the responses would be harsh. Putin described the October 8 explosion on the Crimean bridge as a terrorist attack masterminded by the Ukrainian secret services. On Saturday morning, a truck was blown up on the Crimean bridge. The fuel tanks of a freight train caught fire. As a result of the terrorist attack, three people died, two spans of the automobile part of the bridge to the peninsula collapsed.
On February 24, Putin launched a special military operation in connection with a request from the leaders of the Donbass republics for help. He stressed that Moscow's plans did not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories, its goals being the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The West, in response to Russia's decision, began to gradually introduce numerous and large-scale sanctions against it. Along with this, the Western states began to supply weapons and military equipment to Kiev tens of billions of dollars worth.