On the evening of January 1st (morning of February 2nd, Vietnam time), President Joe Biden read the first official federal message to the National Assembly since taking office.
Initially, the drafted federal message mainly mentioned the internal agenda of the Joe Biden administration. But the war in Ukraine has forced the White House to change some priorities and make the 2022 federal message reflect the moment of the times - as the White House spokesperson said at a press conference on February 28.
President Joe Biden opened the federal message by directly mentioning Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US leader said that Russia's war was " Predestined" and "unjust".
To the related Americans worried about the ongoing war in Ukraine, Mr. Biden said: "I know the news about what is happening seems alarming to all Americans. I want you to know that we will be fine..." - Mr. Biden said.
In the federal message, President Biden reiterated that the US will not deploy troops to Ukraine. "Let me be clear - our forces are not involved and will not participate in the conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine" - Mr. Biden affirmed.
Instead, President Biden said that the US military deployed to Europe was not to fight in Ukraine, "but to protect NATO allies in the event that Mr. Putin decided to continue moving to the West".
For that purpose, we have mobilized ground forces, air squads, and deployed US ships to protect NATO countries including Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, Biden added.
Mr. Biden has previously pledged that the US will comply with NATO's Article 5 principle, which states that an attack on a NATO country is an attack on all member states. In the federal message, Mr. Biden once again affirmed: "As I have made clear, the United States and our allies will protect the territory of NATO countries with all our collective strength."
For Ukraine, Mr. Biden said the US has pledged more than $1 billion in direct support, including military, economic and humanitarian support from the US and its allies.
In the second part of the federal message, Mr. Biden mentioned the domestic problems that the US is facing, such as high gas prices, inflation, an unfair tax system... and the COVID-19 pandemic.
