News - Middle East: US President Joe Biden praised the Ukrainian people as a “wall of strength” against Russia’s military action in their country, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

“Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated,” Biden said. 

“He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people,” he continued.

"From President Zelenskiy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world,” he said.

Putin announced on Thursday a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region to “defend people” subjected to "genocide" there against government forces, stressing that Moscow has “no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”

Biden called the Russian action an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two assault by Russia.