zelenskyy, united states and our partners stand with ukraine s teachers, its hospital staff, it s emergency responder, the workers in cities across ukraine and fighting to keep the power on, in the face of russia s cruel bombardment. we stand with the millions of refugees of this war who found a welcome in europe and united states, particularly here in poland. ordinary people across europe do what they can do to help, continue to do so. business leaders, cultural leaders including the first lady of poland who is here tonight, have led and determined showcasing all that is good with that spirit. madam first lady, we love you. thank you all. [ applause ] i ll never forget last year, visiting with refugees in ukraine who just arrived in warsaw. seeing their faces exhausted
of, if you will, old behaviors regarding russia going back to the stallin era and periods like that. i spent a lot of time in russia between 89 and last year. there was you there was an upward momentum, but at the time the war broke out a year ago things were rapidly on the decline. putin already the regime put clamps on a lot of things. i don t think anybody, even the russians, expected to find themselves in a hot war or a so-called, you know, special military operation, which is the regime not admitting that they have committed an unprovoked aggression. yes, a lot has changed. as peter mentioned, hundreds of thousands of mostly
or destroy russia. the west was not plotting to attack russia as putin said today. and millions of russian citizens only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy. this war was never a necessity. it s a tragedy. president putin chose this war. every day the war continues is his choice. he can end the war with a word. it s simple. if russia stopped invading ukraine, it would end the war. if ukraine stopped defending itself against russia, it would be the end of ukraine. that s why, together, we re making sure ukraine can defend itself. united states, as a worldwide coalition, more than 50 nations, with critical weapons and supplies to the brave ukrainian
with pain. holding their children so close. worried they may never see their fathers, husbands, brothers and sisters again. in that darkest moments in life, you the people of poland offered them safety and life. you embraced them. you literally embraced them. i watched. i watched the looks on their faces. meanwhile, together, we made sure that russia is paying the price for its abuses. we continue to maintain the largest sanction regime ever imposed anywhere in history. we re going to announce more sanctions this week together with our partners. we ll hold accountable those responsible for this war. and we ll seek justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity, continuing to be committed by the russians. you know, there s much for us to be proud of over all that we have achieved together in the past year. we have to be honest and
ukraine and the united states over the past year. take a listen. a year ago today the u.s. embassy was closed. they completely packed up the embassy and moved to poland. yesterday the president of the united states came to the capitol shoulder to shoulder with president zelenskyy, under the dome of st. michaels and sirens in the district and a show of solidarity. what does that say about the relationship and what does that say about where the war is now? translator: ukraine was written off the map of the world. we were told we would definitely lose. yesterday it was symbolic that the opposite was said. it s very important the country has to defeat the authoritarian regime. reporter: in terms of those