For several weeks, the United States has been warning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He knows what he's going to do.

And I think he has to realize that it would be a gigantic mistake for him to move on Ukraine.

The impact on Europe and the rest of the world would be devastating.

And he would pay a heavy price.

On Tuesday, in an effort to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine,

the Biden administration announced a new round of sanctions, imposing economic penalties against Russia.

That means we've cut off Russia's government from Western financing.

It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either.

But the situation rapidly changed in Ukraine early Thursday when Putin began a full-scale bombardment of the country from multiple directions, advancing toward the capital of Kiev.

So far, we've seen scattered explosions in different cities.

There have been explosions around the capital, what horrified world leaders and US officials was that Russian planes moved in beyond that point of contact into Kiev-controlled Ukraine.

Those attacks prompted President Biden to escalate the US response, with a dramatic set of sanctions.

Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences.

Today, I'm authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia.

This is going to impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.

We have purposely designed these sanctions to maximize the long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies.

For Biden, this crisis is becoming another pivotal moment in his presidency.

He has vowed repeatedly that no US troops will fight in Ukraine.

Let me be clear, these are totally defensive moves in our part.

We have no intention of fighting Russia. We want to send an unmistakable message though, that the United States, together with our allies, will defend every inch of NATO territory, and abide by the commitments we made in NATO.

So, without sending troops, how effective can Biden really be at stopping Russia from invading further?

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