Yahoo! News
‘Hard days ahead in Ukraine,’ White House says of Russian invasion
Alexander Nazaryan, Senior W. H. Correspondent – March 22, 2022
WASHINGTON — Russia will face increased economic isolation, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday from the White House as President Biden prepared for his trip to Brussels, where he is to meet with European allies in an effort to end the invasion of Ukraine that was launched late last month by the Kremlin.
Biden “will join our partners in imposing further sanctions on Russia and tightening the existing sanctions to crack down on evasion and to ensure robust enforcement,” Sullivan said at a White House briefing, adding that Biden will also announce “further American contributions to a coordinated humanitarian response.” Russia’s invasion has caused a massive refugee crisis while also leaving Ukrainians who have stayed behind without necessities like drinking water.
Since deciding to attack its much smaller neighbor, Russia has seen an exodus of Western companies. Oligarchs close to the Kremlin have seen their assets seized, while ordinary Russians can no longer use American credit cards like Visa and Mastercard. Earlier this month, Russia joined Cuba and North Korea as the only nations in the world to be deprived of top-tier trading privileges by the United States.
Yet for all that, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no signs of backing down in his campaign to turn Ukraine into the kind of vassal state it was during the nearly eight-decade existence of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian forces have thus far defended the capital, Kyiv, and the key Black Sea port of Odesa, even as Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, has been devastated.
With Biden making clear that the United States would not send troops to Ukraine out of fears of provoking Russia into a broader conflict, it is not apparent just how the current stalemate will be resolved. “There will be hard days ahead in Ukraine,” Sullivan acknowledged. “This war will not end easily, or rapidly.”
Sullivan predicted, however, that Putin would fail to ultimately “subjugate” Ukraine and its people, even if Russia sees military gains in the days and weeks to come.
According to the United Nations, 953 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the start of the war, including 78 children.