COURAGE:

Biden mourned the cost Ukraine has had to bear, but championed its successes. "Russia's aim was to wipe Ukraine off the map," Biden said, but "Putin's war of conquest is failing. Russia's military has lost half its territory it once occupied. Young, talented Russians are fleeing by the tens of thousands, not wanting to come back to Russia. Not...just fleeing from the military, fleeing from Russia itself, because they see no future in their country. Russia's economy is now a backwater, isolated and struggling." 

"Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided," Biden said. He remembered telling Zelensky that Putin was "counting on us not sticking together. He was counting on the inability to keep NATO united. He was counting on us not to be able to bring in others on the side of Ukraine." While Biden didn't say it, Putin had reason to think those things: the four years of the Trump administration had seen the U.S. offending allies and threatening to pull out of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that stands against Russian aggression.

"He thought he could outlast us," Biden said. "I don't think he's thinking that right now.... [H]e's just been plain wrong. Plain wrong." A year later, Biden said, "We stand here together." 

"You and all Ukrainians...remind the world every single day what the meaning of the word 'courage' is--from all sectors of your economy, all walks of life. It's astounding. Astounding.

You remind us that freedom is priceless; it's worth fighting for for as long as it takes. And that's how long we're going to be with you, Mr. President: for as long as it takes."

Zelensky answered, "We'll do it." 

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