Biden warns Putin that U.S. will defend ‘every single inch’ of NATO territory as Russia formally annexes Ukraine regions

U.S. President Joe Biden makes remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on the military conflict in Ukraine after delivering remarks on the federal response to Hurricane Ian at the White House in Washington, September 30, 2022.

As Putin escalates his war against Ukraine, President Joe Biden warned him against threatening NATO territory.

Every single inch of NATO territory is protected by America. Biden made the comment at the White House.

Don't misunderstand what I'm telling you. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country is applying for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Biden said that the United States and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin.

He doesn't intimidate us and he won't scare us. Putin is a sign that he is struggling.

Biden said that the leaks were intentional and that he had been in touch with U.S. Allies.

Biden said it was a deliberate act of sabotage and now the Russians are lying. We will work with our allies to find out what happened.

At my direction, I have begun to help our allies enhance the protection of critical infrastructure, and at the appropriate moment when things calm down, we will send divers down to find out what happened.

Putin sought to justify Russia's illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine on the basis of referendums in which people there supposedly approved the takeover. The votes were called a sham.

The United States imposed new economic sanctions on hundreds of Russian officials and entities in response to the annexations.

Several front companies outside of Russia that were created this year to help major Russian military suppliers evade the sanctions they had already faced are targets of the sanctions. Existing sanctions on top Kremlin officials were expanded by the U.S.