Biden news: President calls Ukraine ‘Tiananmen Square, squared’ as he’s blocked from visit to border

Canada announced on Thursday it will boost oil exports by about five per cent to help address supply shortages in the west.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin tweets that he spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov to reiterate the unwavering support of the US.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly attempting to recruit Russians disgruntled with president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine through targeted social media ads in Washington DC.

A Washington Post report published Wednesday said that the geographically targeted ads appeared on Facebook, Google and Twitter just outside the embassy but not when one is standing a certain distance away.

Sravasti Dasgupta reports.

Free speech matters – now, more than ever, writes James Moore. But what about when it is used as part of an orchestrated attempt to crush that of others, and to kill those who resist?

A candidate for US Congress quit his campaign to join foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.

Mark Lindquist, the only Democrat running in Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, defied White House advice and is joining Ukraine’s “International Legion of Defence”.

Justin Vallejo reports.

Today marks one month since Russia began its carnage in Ukraine, the brutal invasion of Ukraine. And we held a Nato summit the very next day. At that time, my overwhelming objective, wanting that summit, was to have absolute unity on three key important issues among our Nato and European allies.

First was to support Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance.

Second was to impose the most significant — the most significant sanctions — economic sanction regime ever, in order to cripple Putin’s economy and punish him for his actions.

Third was to fortify the eastern flank of our Nato Allies, who were obviously very, very concerned and somewhat at — worried what would happen.

We accomplished all three of these. And today, we’re determined to sustain those efforts and to build on them.

The United States has committed to provide over $2bn in military equipment to Ukraine since I became President — anti-air systems, anti-armor systems, ammunition. And our weapons are flowing into Ukraine as I speak.

And today, I’m announcing the United States have prepared to commit more than $1bn in humanitarian assistance to help get relief to millions of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine.

Many Ukrainian refugees will wish to stay in Europe, closer to their homes. But we’ve also -- will welcome 100,000 Ukrainians to the United States with a focus on reuniting families.

And we will invest $320m to bolster democratic resilience and defend human rights in Ukraine and neighboring countries.

We’re also coordinating with the G7 and the European Union on food security, as well as energy security, and I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

We’re also announcing new sanctions of more than 400 individuals and entities aligned with -- in alignment with the European Union: more than 300 members of the Duma, oligarchs, and Russian defense companies that fuel the Russian war machine.

In addition to the 100,000 US forces now stationed in Europe to defend Nato territory, Nato established, as you already know, four new battle groups in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia to reinforce the eastern front.

Putin was banking on Nato being split. In my early conversation with him in December and early January, it was clear to me he didn’t think we could sustain this cohesion.

Nato has never, never been more united than it is today. Putin is getting exactly the opposite of what he intended to have as a consequence of going into Ukraine.

We built that same unity with our European -- the European Union and with the leading democracies ... in the G7.

Addressing reporters at a Nato conference in Brussels on Thursday, Joe Biden said he had no concerns about a potential face-off against his 2020 Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

A reporter for the German magazine Der Spiegel pointed out that there was a presidential election – to which Mr Biden quipped “you’re kidding?”

After a small shuffle of laughter, the reporter continued and posed, without stating the former president’s actual name, what the Biden administration is doing now to prevent all the work he’s doing here with Nato, at the alliance’s headquarters, from “coming undone two years from now”.

Johanna Chisholm reports.

Joe Biden snapped at a CBS News reporter who questioned why new sanctions would have an impact on Russia changing course in Ukraine when previous sanctions failed to deter an invasion.

Justin Vallejo reports.

President Joe Biden has called for Ukraine to be welcomed at future G20 summits should US attempts to expel Russia be unsuccessful.

After meeting with European allies on Thursday in Brussels, Mr Biden told a press conference it was time to step up efforts to isolate Russia from the international community.

He said if G20 member countries blocked his request to remove Russia, then Ukraine should be invited to attend the meetings.

Bevan Hurley reports.