Biden says Putin 'cannot remain in power' in Warsaw speech

March 26 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he "cannot remain in power" during a speech delivered in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday.

"A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a people's love for liberty. Brutality will never grind down their will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia - for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness," Biden said in the speech.

"We will have a different future -- a brighter future rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light, of decency and dignity, of freedom and possibilities. For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power."

His comments, which appeared to condone a regime change, mark among the sharpest rebukes Biden has made against his Russian counterpart and sent White House officials scrambling to clarify his comments in the aftermath.

"The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," a White House official told The New York Times.

Much of Biden's speech had been focused on delivering a message of support for Ukraine and visiting refugees after meeting officials earlier in the day.

"My message to the people of Ukraine is...we stand with you," Biden said.

Biden added that the rise of democracy in Poland in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed was proof that democracy will win over autocracy.

"We emerged anew in the great battle for freedom, a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and oppression," he said. "In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days or months either. We need to steel our ourselves for the long fight ahead."

Biden said that "the battle for democracy" did not stop with the end of the Cold War and that autocracy has been revived "all across the globe" in the last 30 years. He added that the hallmarks of autocracy "are familiar ones" such as "contempt for the rule of law, contempt for Democratic freedom, contempt for the truth itself."

"Today, Russia has strangled democracy and sought to do so elsewhere, not only its homeland, over false claims," Biden said. "Putin has the gall to say he's de-Nazifying Ukraine. It's a lie. It's just cynical, he knows that, and it's also obscene. President Zelensky was democratically-elected, he's Jewish, his father's family was wiped out in the Holocaust, and Putin has the audacity like all our autocrats before him to believe that might will make right."

His comment refers to a quote from former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who said "let us have faith that right makes might" in a campaign speech before he became president.

"Let us have that faith again," Biden said.

The Kremlin has presented NATO enlargement as an "imperial project aimed at destabilizing Russia," Biden said, adding that nothing is further from the truth since NATO is a defensive alliance.

"There is simply no justification or provocation for Russia's choice of war, it's an example of one of the oldest human impulses, using brute force and disinformation to satisfy a craving for absolute power and control," Biden said.

Biden stressed the importance of economic sanctions in trying to end the war.

"We've aimed at the heart of Russia's economy by stopping the imports of Russian energy to the United States," he said.

Biden said the United States has also sanctioned 140 Russian oligarchs for "ill-begotten gains," and sanctioned more than 400 Russian government officials, which he said, included the "architects of this war."

"As a result of these unprecedented sanctions, the Ruble is almost immediately reduced to rubble," he said. "These international sanctions are sapping Russia's strength, it's ability to replenish its military, and its ability to project power, and it's Putin, it's Vladimir Putin who is to blame."

Since the invasion, the United States has committed $1.35 billion in weapons and ammunition to defend Ukrainian land and airspace, he also noted.

Biden added that allies have stepped up as well in terms of economic sanctions against Russia and military support for Ukraine.

"Don't even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory," Biden also warned. "We have sacred obligation...to defend each and every inch of NATO territory with the full force of our collective power."

Biden also made reference to Madeleine Albright, the first woman to become U.S. Secretary of State, who died a few days ago of cancer at age 84. Albright had arrived in America as a young refugee after her family fled Europe when Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, which also became Soviet-dominated for decades before it separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

"She fought her whole life for central democratic principles. She became one of the most ardent supporters of democracy in the world," Biden said.

"And now in the perrennial fight for democracy and freedom, Ukraine and its people are on the front lines, fighting to save their nation, and their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for essential democratic principles that unite all free people, a rule of law, and free elections, the freedom to speak, to write, and to assemble, the freedom to worship as one chooses, the freedom of press."

Before his main speech Saturday, Biden toured PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, which is accommodating scores of refugees who have crossed the border.

"It's incredible," Biden said. "You see all those little children. They just want a hug."

Earlier in the day, he also met spoke with Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov in a group meeting at a hotel in Warsaw, which also included U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Much of the discussion involved military matters and was therefore behind closed doors, but Ukrainian officials later said the United States offered more support.

"Today we did receive additional promises from the United States on how our defense cooperation will evolve," Kuleba said. "Ukrainian stamina and Western weapons, mostly American weapons, is the recipe for success on the battleground."

Biden arrived in Europe on Wednesday, which marked a month since the Russian war on Ukraine began, and held talks with NATO allies in Brussels before traveling to Warsaw, Poland, on Friday.

Saturday was the first time he was able to meet Ukrainian officials in person during the tour.

Biden also held a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrezj Duda at the presidential palace in Warsaw on Saturday to discuss how the United States and its allies are responding to the refugee crisis.

Biden reiterated comments he made earlier in the week stressing the importance of NATO member states to stay united regarding their response to the war.

"It's so important that we -- Poland and the United States -- keep in lockstep with how we're proceeding," he said. "And also we do acknowledge that Poland is taking on a significant responsibility."

Poland has taken in the vast majority of the more than 3 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled the fighting in their home country.

"Helping these refugees is not something Poland or anyone should carry alone," Biden said in his main speech Saturday, adding that he announced two days ago that America would welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Earlier in the week, in Brussels, he also announced that the United States is prepared to provide $1 billion in humanitarian aid.

Biden was expected to explain how the "free world" should unite to resist Russia's invasion of Ukraine during his main speech Saturday.

"He will give a major address tomorrow that will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression. He'll also talk about the context and history of this conflict and where he sees it going from here," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a preview Friday.

Ukraine has been pressuring the United States to increase military assistance, and the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the establishment of a no-fly zone, but Biden has rejected more direct involvement, saying it could result in World War III.

"We are very disappointed, in all honesty," Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, told the Atlantic Council on Friday regarding the NATO summit in Brussels. "We would expect more bravery, expected some bold decisions. The alliance has taken decisions as if there's no war."

Still, Yermak said Ukraine was appreciative of Western military and humanitarian support.

On Friday, the United States and European Union announced an agreement to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian fossil fuels over the war in Ukraine aimed at fortifying an allied response to aid Ukraine and punishing Russia for its invasion of its neighbor.

More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and over 1,700 have been injured in the war, the United Nations said Friday. Over 3.7 million have fled Ukraine as refugees, including more than 2.2 million to Poland alone, along with other countries, such as Romania and Hungary.