During his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden announced that the United States will close off its airspace to all Russian flights in response to its invasion of Ukraine.  Biden said the move would further isolate Russia, which is already facing sanctions and similar restrictions from U.S. allies and other nations throughout the world in response to what he called a “premeditated and unprovoked” attack by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Said Biden: “Throughout our history, we’ve learned this lesson — when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos. They keep moving. And the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising.”  Biden added that Putin “rejected efforts at diplomacy” in carrying out the invasion, saying, “He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. And he thought he could divide us here at home. Putin was wrong. We were ready.”

Biden said the United States has given more than $1 billion in direct assistance to Ukraine and will continue to aid the Ukrainian people, but reiterated that the U.S. “are not engaged and will not engage” in conflict with the Russian forces in Ukraine. Biden noted that U.S. forces have been mobilized to protect countries including Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, stating: “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO Allies — in the event that Putin decides to keep moving west.”

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