‘Americans prepared to stand up to bullies’: Joe Biden ‘not worried’ about international support for Ukraine
The US will continue to back Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes”, President Joe Biden has said while outlining further military support.
In a news conference at the White House, and stood at a podium next to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he paid tribute to Ukrainians’ “steel backbone, love of country and unbreakable determination to choose their own path”.
And he said: “American people are prepared to have us stand up to bullies, stand up for freedom. That’s who we are.”
Mr Biden said that Ukraine has “defied Russia’s expectations at every turn” and he went on: “The American people are with you every step of the way and we will stay with you… for as long as it takes.”
“Together we will keep the flame of liberty burning bright,” he added.
Mr Zelenskyy thanked the US and the American people for their support, in particular the Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system, saying that “every dollar of this investment for the US is going to be strengthening global security”.
“This is the only way that we can deprive the terrorist state of its main instrument of terror – the possibility to hit our cities, our energy,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Mr Biden said the Patriot system is “a defensive system, it’s not escalatory, it’s defensive”
The US president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had earlier said the United States would provide $1.85bn in additional military assistance for Ukraine, which includes a transfer of the Patriot system.
The Ukrainian president said during the conference that his country’s defence capabilities will be strengthened in the coming months but would not give further details, and he said Russia needs to be held accountable for its actions.
Mr Zelenskyy, on his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February, was asked by a reporter what was his message to the American people. He replied: “My message: I wish you peace.
“To be together with us, because we really fight for our common victory against this tyranny… and we will win. And I really want to win together. Not want, sorry… I’m sure.”
Mr Zelenskyy also said the war would end once Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity were restored, as well as the “payback for all the damages inflicted by Russian aggression”.
Earlier, during a fireside welcome in the White House, Mr Zelenskyy gave Mr Biden a medal that had originally been awarded to a Ukrainian military captain for bravery. The captain said he wanted the US president to get it for his support of Ukraine.
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President Zelenskyy gave Mr Biden a medal in the Oval Office
Receiving the medal, Mr Biden said: “Oh God love you… undeserved but much appreciated.”
The highly sensitive trip is taking place after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians
Shortly after arriving in the US, Mr Zelenskyy posted on his Telegram account about his determination to win the war with Russia, writing: “Next year, we must return the Ukrainian flag and freedom to our entire land, to all our people.”
The United States has so far sent around $50bn (£41bn) in assistance to the Kyiv government as it defends itself against an invasion by Russia that began 10 months ago.
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Zelenskyy and Biden laugh together
Former UK ambassador to Ukraine Leigh Turner told Sky News Mr Zelenskyy’s primary goal is to combat fatigue from supporting countries for what could be a “long and grinding war”.
He said: “At the beginning, everybody was supporting Ukraine, every Western government and the people of Britain and the US were strongly supporting Ukraine, from providing arms and taking in refugees into their homes.
“Ten months later winter is drawing on, there are a lot of other crises… and even some US lawmakers mostly from the Republican Party have been voting against providing more aid to Ukraine.”
President Biden said he was “not at all worried” about holding together an international coalition supporting Ukraine and said he had never seen the NATO alliance or the European Union more united.
“I see no sign of there being any change. We all know what’s at stake here,” he said.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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