Biden meets with Polish President Duda; Russia's signals of shifting goals in Ukraine met with skepticism

Russia's military goals in Ukraine have been hazy since it began its invasion more than a month ago, and new statements suggest Moscow may consider claiming victory without completely overthrowing the Ukrainian government or capturing Kyiv.

Western analysts and leaders were skeptical of the Friday statements, where the deputy chief of the Russian general staff said his forces had largely achieved the "main objectives" of a first phase of the conflict. The power of the Ukrainian military has been "considerably reduced," freeing up troops to "focus on the main efforts to achieve the main goal, liberation of Donbas," said Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi.

The implications of the statement are difficult to determine, according to Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University who has studied U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

"It's plausible that they’re basically trying to ratchet their perceived war aims down to something they’ve already accomplished," he said.

The pronouncement of shifting goals comes as President Joe Biden is in Warsaw Saturday to confer with Polish President Andrzej Duda, meet Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw and deliver what the White House is billing as a major speech before he departs for the U.S.

Before the invasion, portions of the Donbas in southeastern Ukraine were already controlled by Russian-backed forces.

Similarly skeptical, French President Emmanuel Macron said “it’s too soon to say” whether the Russians have changed their approach.

But what does appear clear: In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance, the progress of Russian forces has largely stalled. Kyiv — while battered — remains under the control of the Ukrainian government.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis caused by the war continues. A Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theater that was being used as a shelter killed about 300 people, Ukrainian authorities said Friday. That would make it the deadliest known attack on civilians in the war yet.

Latest developments

►President Joe Biden, who is in Warsaw, on Friday expressed support for Poland's efforts in helping Ukrainian refugees. More than 2 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of Russia’s invasion of their country.

►The U.N. human rights office said it has been challenging to confirm fatalities in Mariupol given the organization's strict methodology for counting the number of civilian deaths in conflict. The office says at least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured, but acknowledges that is an undercount.

► The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych in northern Ukraine and seized a hospital there.

Biden arrives for meeting with Duda

With pomp and fanfare, President Joe Biden arrived at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on Saturday for a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on how allies are responding to the humanitarian crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.

Biden’s limousine pulled into the palace courtyard shortly after 12:30 p.m. local time.

Duda greeted the president as he stepped out of the car. The two chatted briefly, shook hands with a line of dignitaries and then participated in a formal arrival ceremony that included the playing of each country’s national anthem and a military procession.

– Michael Collins

Russian troops enter city of Slavutych, seize hospital

LVIV, Ukraine -- The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych and seized a hospital there.

Slavutych is located north of Kyiv and west of Chernihiv, outside the exclusion zone that was established around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster. It is home to workers at the Chernobyl site.

Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk said Saturday that the Russians also kidnapped the city’s mayor, but some media reported later in the day that the mayor was released swiftly. Neither claim could be verified independently .

The governor said that residents of Slavutych took to the streets with Ukrainian flags to protest the Russian invasion.

“The Russians opened fire into the air. They threw flash-bang grenades into the crowd. But the residents did not disperse, on the contrary, more of them showed up,” Pavlyuk said.

- Associated Press

Death toll of children reaches 136

In the month since the Russian invasion began, 136 children have been killed.

Reuters reported that 64 of the children were killed in the Kyiv region and 50 were killed in the Donetsk region. An additional 199 children have been wounded.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights said Thursday, the civilian death toll in Ukraine has exceeded 1,000 since the start of the war.

- Ana Faguy

Top Ukrainian officials to attend Biden speech in Warsaw

A pair of top Ukrainian officials will be on hand in Warsaw Saturday when President Joe Biden delivers a speech on holding Russia accountable for its month-long war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a message on Twitter that he and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will attend the president’s address.

Biden started the final day of his four-day trip to Europe by dropping by a meeting between Reznikov and Kuleba and their U.S. counterparts – Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Reznikov tweeted a photo of the meeting – sans Biden – and said they were discussing “current issues & cooperation in political & defense directions.”

“In the evening we’ll also be present at @POTUS speech on the Russian war against Ukraine,” Reznikov wrote.

Biden will deliver his remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

– Michael Collins

100,000-plus flee Ukraine on Friday

More than 100,00 people left Ukraine Friday, the State Border Guard Service Ukraine said.

Two-thirds of those who left crossed Ukraine's western borders with EU countries as well as Moldova. The State Border Guard Service estimated 45,000 left Friday night alone.

Meanwhile, many men are returning to Ukraine to defend the country, the Ukrainian government said. 21,000 people arrived in Ukraine Friday night. The State Border Guard Service said more than 420,000 Ukrainians have returned since Russia first invaded.

The United Nations estimates that 10 million people have fled Ukraine since the conflict began last month. Friday's flow of refugees was significantly higher than in recent days. On Wednesday, about 43,000 fled and around 62,000 fled Thursday, according to government figures.

- Ana Faguy

Ukraine president Zelenskyy makes surprise appearance at Doha Forum

DOHA, Qatar — Ukraine's president made a surprise video appearance Saturday at Qatar's Doha Forum, calling on the energy-rich nation and others to boost their production to counteract the loss of Russian energy supplies.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid, as he has in a series of other addresses given around the world since the start of the war Feb. 24. He compared Russia's destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.

"They are destroying our ports," Zelenskyy said. "The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide."

The loss of Ukrainian wheat already has worried Mideast nations like Egypt, which relies on those exports.

Zelenskyy called on countries to increase their exports of energy — something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.

Zelenskyy criticized Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons, raising the possibility of tactical nuclear weapons being used on the battlefield.

"Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet," Zelenskyy said.

He also noted that Muslims in Ukraine would have to fight during the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"We have to ensure this sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by the misery of people in Ukraine," he said.

– Associated Press

President Biden to meet with refugees, deliver speech

President Joe Biden on Saturday will cap his European trip talking to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and delivering a speech on holding Russia accountable for its invasion and upholding democratic values.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, previewed Biden’s remarks as a major address that will “speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.”

Biden will also put the war in historical context and describe where he sees it going from here, Sullivan said.

Before delivering those remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace

“The suffering that is taking place now is at your doorstep,” Biden told Duda on Friday at a meeting in Rzeszów, where the influx of refugees is the largest. “You're the ones who are risking, in some cases, your lives and risking all you know to try to help. And the American people are proud to support your efforts.”

On Thursday, Biden announced the U.S. will take in up to 100,000 Ukrainians and provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance.

Poland has taken in more than 2 million refugees, and the numbers continue to grow.

“We have never experienced anything like that throughout our history,” Duda told Biden.

On Saturday, Biden will meet with refugees at the National Stadium in Warsaw. The stadium is a processing center where refugees are issued identification cards allowing them to work, live, go to school and get social benefits.

“I'm here in Poland to see firsthand the humanitarian crisis,” Biden said Friday, expressing his disappointment that he can’t cross the border into Ukraine for security reasons.

Biden has been in Europe since Wednesday, meeting with NATO allies and other European and world leaders.

The U.S. and its allies announced new sanctions on Russia, additional help for Ukraine, and discussed beefing up force presence in Eastern Europe in the near and longer-term.

– Maureen Groppe

UK sees Russians reluctant to enter urban war

LONDON — Britain's Defense Ministry says Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

A daily update says Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralize defending forces.

The assessment says it is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties.

– Associated Press

Zelenskyy: Ukraine will not cede territory to end Russian invasion

Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.

In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on “the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.”

Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.

Rudskoi’s statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled. Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still haven’t been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city.

Ukraine destroys Russian vessel; Moscow taps troops in Georgia

Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian transport ship in the port city of Berdyansk that appeared to be on a resupply mission, a senior Defense official said Friday.

The attack on Thursday blew up a tank-landing ship at its pier, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments. The Russians have 22 warships in the Black Sea.

Russian combat power in Ukraine, which dipped below 90% for the first time this week, is now between 85% and 90%, the official said. For the first time, Russia appears to be drawing reinforcements from its troops based in Georgia. Combat power includes troops, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles.

Russia has also drawn down its stockpile of precision-guided weapons and is relying more on so-called dumb bombs to bombard cities, the official said. Russia has used about 50% of its air-launched cruise missiles. Russia’s cruise missiles have at times failed to launch or hit their targets.

– Tom Vanden Brook

Poll shows Americans support Russian sanctions, think Biden should be tougher

A majority of Americans are supportive of the harsh sanctions on Russia but believe Biden needs to be tougher on the Kremlin after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a poll commissioned by the Associated Press and NORC released Thursday.

The poll, which surveyed 1,082 U.S. adults from Thursday to Monday, found 56% of Americans believe Biden's response to Russia hasn't been tough enough, including a majority of 53% of Democrats. A very small percent, about 6%, said they thought Biden had been "too tough," the poll shows.

Across the board, Americans of both political parties were supportive of the harsh economic blows to Russia. The poll showed 68% were supportive of economic sanctions in general with 70% saying they supported the recent banning of oil imported from Russia, which in turn caused gas prices to rise.

— Christal Hayes

Florida lawmakers fail to pass safety legislation after Surfside tragedy

The Florida legislature failed to strike agreement on legislation targeting condo safety measures months after the partial collapse of a Surfside, Fla., condo building that left close to 100 people dead.

The proposed legislation required condo buildings to conduct "reserve studies" where engineers inform condo boards about how much money they recommend setting aside after doing periodic inspections. It also required condo inspections on aging buildings.

The measure failed to make headway between both chambers of the Florida legislature on Friday.

Older condo buildings are not required to undergo safety inspections under current Florida law, the network noted.

The news comes after state lawmakers vowed to take action on preventative steps for the future in the wake of the collapse.

"I'm not sure why it fell apart," Senate President Wilton Simpson (R) said at a news conference, according to NBC News.

"Clearly, we did not get together with the House on that bill, and so unfortunately it did not pass."

Lawmakers in the Senate struggled to overcome an impasse on the bill sponsored by state Rep. Daniel Perez (R) that would stop condo boards from waiving reserve funding, targeting a current loophole in Florida. But state senators argued condo owners would be financially burdened, the network reported.

"Many associations did not want the inability to waive reserves. And I think that they had a little bit more of an influence in the Senate than they did in the House," Perez told NBC News. "That was not a negotiable piece for us. We were never going to negotiate the waiving of reserves, because that is part of the problem that caused the incident at Surfside."

The impasse comes months after 98 people died in the partial Surfside condo collapse. The tragedy gripped newscasts as Florida officials regularly updated the public on its investigation and rising death toll.

It also became a rare sign of bipartisan unity between President Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who met together in South Florida following the tragedy.

Justice Thomas slams cancel culture, 'packing' Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said he's concerned efforts to politicize the court or add additional justices may erode the institution's credibility, speaking Friday in Utah at an event hosted by former Republican U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch’s foundation.

Thomas, the most senior justice on the nine-member court, said he often worries about the long-term repercussions of trends such as “cancel culture” and a lack of civil debate.

“You can cavalierly talk about packing or stacking the court. You can cavalierly talk about doing this or doing that. At some point the institution is going to be compromised,” he told an audience of about 500 people at an upscale hotel in Salt Lake City.

"By doing this, you continue to chip away at the respect of the institutions that the next generation is going to need if they’re going to have civil society," Thomas said.

Rulings for the upcoming year will set laws on hot-button political issues, including abortion, guns and voting rights.

The court has leaned increasingly conservative since three justices nominated by former President Donald Trump joined its ranks. Progressives have in turn called to expand the number of justices on the court, including during the 2020 presidential primary. Democrats in Congress introduced a bill last year to add four justices to the bench, and President Joe Biden has convened a commission to study expanding the court.

“I’m afraid, particularly in this world of cancel culture attack, I don’t know where you’re going to learn to engage as we did when I grew up,” he said. “If you don’t learn at that level in high school, in grammar school, in your neighborhood, or in civic organizations, then how do you have it when you’re making decisions in government, in the legislature, or in the courts?”

In addition to condemning “cancel culture,” Thomas also blasted the media for cultivating inaccurate impressions about public figures — including himself, his wife and late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Ginni Thomas, Justice Thomas’s wife and a longtime conservative activist, has faced scrutiny this year for her political activity and involvement in groups that file briefs about cases in front of the Supreme Court, as well as using her Facebook page to amplify partisan attacks.

As Congress prepares to hold confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Thomas recalled his 1991 confirmation process as a humiliating and embarrassing experience that taught him not to be overly prideful. During congressional hearings, lawmakers grilled Thomas about sexual harassment allegations from Anita Hill, a former employee, leading him to call the experience a “high tech lynching.”

If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman on the court, and would join Thomas as its second Black justice.

Thomas, who grew up in Georgia during segregation, said he held civility as one of his highest values. He said he learned to respect institutions and debate civilly with those who disagreed with him during his years in school. Based on conversations he’s had with students at his university lectures in recent years, he said he doesn’t believe colleges are welcoming places for productive debate, particularly for students who support what he described as traditional families or oppose abortion.

Thomas did not reference the future of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that extended abortion rights throughout the country. The court this year is scheduled to rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and whether Mississippi can ban abortions at 15 weeks. While the court deliberates over the case, lawmakers in Florida, West Virginia and Kentucky are advancing similar legislation hoping the court overturns Roe and establishes new precedent.

‘You will see the wrath’ — Progressives warn Biden against cutting down agenda

President Joe Biden’s vision for building a vast "care economy" has collapsed — and Democrats fear their party’s political advantage with parents and caregivers could end up as collateral damage.

More than a year into his term, Biden’s plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into child and eldercare programs is on the congressional backburner. An expanded tax credit that dramatically reduced child poverty expired and is unlikely to be revived. And the administration’s ambitions for guaranteeing free pre-kindergarten and paid family leave are struggling to gain widespread traction in Congress.

Making matters worse: There’s little public talk of resuscitating these items. In fact, Democrats seem to be girding themselves for a deal in which they are removed entirely from the president’s Build Back Better bill in favor of a pared-down version that funds climate change initiatives and reduces the deficit.

The situation has alarmed liberal advocates and unnerved Democrats who believe winning the support of parents is key to keeping control of power in Washington. Caregivers already exhausted by the pandemic now face rising prices due to historic inflation, with no relief in sight. Republicans, sensing an opening, are attempting to make fresh inroads on education and children’s issues — largely by waging campaigns around curriculums and sexual orientation and gender identification instructions in the classroom.

“They cannot return home for a midterm election without bringing home the goods,” said April Verrett, president of long-term care worker union SEIU Local 2015, who has met frequently with White House officials on the matter. “Americans want and need the support to lower costs for families.”

Democrats’ hopes on this front rely largely on winning over the party’s main holdout, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). But Manchin is focused on limiting drug prices and advancing climate programs, regarding the rest as “social” spending that should be considered only if there’s money left over. And after months spent trying to win the Senator’s elusive vote, many congressional Democrats are signaling they’re willing to give in to his demands.

Advocates for the care provisions have warned the White House and lawmakers that any reconciliation bill that leaves out large investments in the care economy risks alienating one of Democrats' most important voting groups ahead of the midterms. A Morning Consult/POLITICO poll conducted in February found that Democrats had already begun ceding their electoral advantage among recipients of the expanded child tax credit within a month of the payments expiring.

“If a reconciliation package passes without any of the care agenda items, you will see the wrath of women around the country,” said Julie Kashen, director of women’s economic justice at the Century Foundation.

And while members of Congress who have been working on caregiver issues continue to speak optimistically, they acknowledge the skepticism that a deal will be made.

"It will remain a big priority for us," said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.). "But I am nervous about whether or not those provisions ultimately make it into something that can pass the Senate."

The current status of the expanded child tax embodies the vise Democrats now find themselves in. The program was passed as part of the Covid relief plan passed last spring, granting families up to $3,600 per child in monthly payments. But it expired in December. Then the main vehicle for its extension — the Build Back Better bill — faltered, and Congress is unlikely to strike a deal this year to restore it, even in a reduced fashion.

Two people close to the process blamed the lack of progress on GOP obstruction, along with Manchin’s reluctance to keep the program going despite its link to plunging child poverty rates. But they also said the administration is largely disengaged from negotiations on Capitol Hill.

There is no point person in charge of getting the expanded tax credit renewed, and the White House has refused to say what concessions it could accept to make a fix more palatable to Republicans and Manchin — making it difficult for lawmakers to hash out specifics. That's left some privately resigned to the probability an agreement is out of reach.

"I'm amazed at the lack of strategy," said one advocate in close touch with the White House. "There's a debate about the future of children and families going on, and they've taken a step back on it."

White House officials are aware of the concerns about the president’s care agenda and try to assuage those fears by saying the president will keep looking for ways to pass the issues into law if they don’t end up in the BBB bill that can be done through reconciliation. During a Friday speech to House Democrats, Biden pleaded with lawmakers to continue working on reducing childcare costs, insisting that "we can do that."

But avenues for passage through a 60-vote threshold in the Senate are, as of now, non-existent. And in a response to a series of questions about its strategy for advancing the issue, the White House declined to comment.

Others told POLITICO that the White House has continued to reassure them that there's still a chance of securing funding for certain items, like universal pre-K and capping childcare costs — emphasizing that the issues are still major priorities for Biden evidenced by their inclusion in his State of the Union address.

“There were a lot of things that were not included in that list of three priorities for Congress to address through a reconciliation bill that he wants on his desk,” said Charles Joughin, who leads public affairs for the child advocacy group First Five Years Fund.

Yet even under that scenario, progress could take months.

While the administration has carefully guarded the details of its talks with Manchin, for fear of leaks that could derail the delicate discussions, officials have indicated it may take until the end of April for negotiations on the specifics of an economic package to begin in earnest.

A person familiar with the White House’s thinking told POLITICO, “The White House is not setting deadlines.”

The delay means that Democrats are likely to head into the campaign stretch either still in the messy negotiation phase or having made little headway on a “care economy” initiative that once formed the backbone of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

The expanded child tax credit is hardly the only place where progress has faltered. The White House also initially sought funding to upgrade child care facilities and create a nationwide pre-K program. It wanted to guarantee 12 weeks of paid leave and cap the cost of childcare for low-to-middle income families. Another $400 billion was planned for home and community-based care for older Americans and people with disabilities.

Those initiatives would slash families’ biggest expenses and grow the economy overall, supporters argue, chiefly by allowing more stay-at-home caregivers to re-enter the workforce. Democrats also hoped it would aid them politically, shoring up support among those managing the brunt of the pandemic: suburban women voters who also helped Biden take the presidency in 2020 and people of color who make up a core part of the party’s base.

Instead, that early optimism has been replaced by warnings that Democrats are blowing it.

“Republicans are well aware that parents are going to be a highly contested demographic this cycle, and so they’ve ramped up culture war messaging aimed at this group,” said Ethan Winter, a senior analyst at progressive polling firm Data for Progress, pointing to GOP efforts in Congress and several states to redefine fights over school curricula, gender identity and Covid policies as "parents rights" issues.

There are signs the administration shares the urgency of the advocacy community. Earlier this week, a fact sheet circulated by the White House ahead of the one-year anniversary of its American Rescue Plan credited the law for driving child poverty to its lowest rate on record.

Yet that point is quickly losing its political salience. With the payments drying up, new Columbia University research indicates child poverty is on the rise again — especially among Latino and Black children who saw the greatest benefits last year.

On a Tuesday call with reporters to tout the law’s accomplishments, White House officials declined to say whether they saw a path to restoring the tax credit.

“This is something that we are still fighting for and haven’t given up,” a senior official said.

In the absence of clear momentum, some Democrats have pushed congressional leaders to hold voters on individual proposals even if they’re unlikely to pass, so lawmakers can at least register their support. But that tactic won’t do much to deliver the on-the-ground benefits that Biden promised — and that Democrats once hoped would boost their chances in November.

“We have to define what the parents agenda is,” said Celinda Lake, one of Biden’s campaign pollsters. “We need a more visible fight on this.”

Biden, allies move to suspend normal trade relations with Russia

Seeking to further punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he described as a “merciless assault” on Ukraine, President Biden said on Friday that he would move to revoke Russia’s status as a top trading partner with the United States.

The action, Biden explained, would “make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States” by allowing for new taxes on imports from which nations with most-favored status are exempt. The European Union and Group of Seven nations — which include Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom — are taking similar steps, which could deal Russia what Biden described in his White House remarks as a “crushing blow.”

Congress will have to take up the matter, but given the rare eagerness with which Democrats and Republicans have united around a single foe, this latest effort to isolate Russia could be realized within a matter of days.

“The free world is coming together to confront Putin,” Biden said. “Our two parties here at home are leading the way.”

Putin does have a key ally: China, which trades far more with Russia ($147 billion last year) than it does with second-place Germany ($65 billion) or distant-fifth United States ($35 billion). Beijing has done its best to remain neutral when it comes to the Ukraine conflict and has not been party to any of the restrictive new trade policies directed at the Kremlin.

Still, the loss of premier trading status across Canada, Japan and much of Europe means that Russian exporters — already caught in a hostile global economy — will now face the possibility of tariffs on the goods they are looking to sell abroad. And even though the trade relationship with China remains stable, it is not clear just how much more that relationship can be expanded simply because Moscow has few other friends left.

Earlier this week, American financial giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase said they were ending business in Russia, further underscoring the costs both ordinary Russians and Russian elites are bearing for the unprovoked attack on Ukraine that Putin began last month. So far, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have failed.

“Putin’s actions are causing massive harm to the Russian people,” former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb tweeted. “The sanctions will be as total as the isolation. No area will be spared: finance, trade, goods, services, individuals, culture, sport, energy, transport. Reserves will not last forever.”

American officials have said U.S. troops would not fight in Ukraine. Economic means are thus seen as the best way to convince Putin to withdraw troops from sovereign Ukrainian territory, an occupation that has already taken the lives of thousands of Russian troops and hundreds of Ukrainian civilians.

“Russia has now become a global economic and financial pariah,” the White House said in announcing the move, which comes with an outright ban of imports from Russia of luxury goods like vodka and caviar — two poignant symbols of the country after two decades of Putin’s rule, which has enriched a class of oligarchs known for their lavish lifestyles.

Biden called those oligarchs “corrupt billionaires,” and the Treasury Department moved on Friday to implement new sanctions on Russia’s ruling elite. “They support Putin, they steal from the Russian people and they seek to hide their money in our countries,” Biden said.

“They must share in the pain of these sanctions,” Biden continued, vowing to go after “their superyachts and their vacation homes.” Later in the morning, he signed an executive order banning the export of American luxury goods to Russia.

Congress gave Russia access to permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) — also known as most-favored-nation status — in 2012 as a sign that it had become a democracy that had recovered from the chaos and corruption of the early post-Soviet days. Yet antidemocratic abuses by the Kremlin, including the death of imprisoned attorney Sergei Magnitsky, made some wonder if Russia was deserving of such privilege.

“This culture of impunity in Russia has been growing worse and worse,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at the time.

Today, Cuba and North Korea are the only nations in the world that can’t claim the favored-nation protections of the PNTR, underscoring how quickly Russia is being expelled from virtually all U.S. economic arrangements.

Even Iran retains PNTR status, though trade with the Islamist republic has been sanctioned, to the point of nonexistence, since 1987. Venezuela, another adversary, also retains its favored-nation status. In fact, it appears to be on the cusp of selling oil to the United States again, in a stark contrast to Russia’s narrowing trade options. (Congress suspended oil imports from Russia earlier this week, thus making Venezuela’s vast oil reserves a potentially attractive option.)

Biden said Russia could soon be deprived of loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, further squeezing a nation cut off from Western financial markets. “He cannot pursue a war that threatens the very foundations of international peace and stability and then ask for financial help from the international community,” the president argued.

As such, the move would be as symbolic as it is economic. Last month’s invasion of Ukraine seemed to reverse three decades of optimism about Russia. Trade relations with Russia were normalized in 1990, with hopes that the Kremlin would steer the nation in the direction of a free-market economy. And for a while, that was indeed the course undertaken by President Boris Yeltsin and his successor, Putin.

Putin ended the “gangster capitalism” of the 1990s, turning the oligarchs who had gotten rich during that time essentially into an arm of the Kremlin. Those who weren’t chased out (Boris Berezovsky) or jailed (Mikhail Khodorkovsky) became near-literal vassals of Putin. Meanwhile, he ruthlessly consolidated control over the media and other sectors of free society.

American corporations and legislators were willing to overlook much of that over the last 15 years, though Putin invaded Georgia (2008) and Ukraine (2014). But the second Ukraine invasion — which has been longer and more brutal than the first — has shifted the calculus, and now the same Congress that granted Russia PNTR status could move to revoke the vote of confidence it gave a decade ago.

In his remarks on Friday, Biden made clear that the Russian people have one man to blame, just as his administration has said that Americans upset at higher gas prices should point their finger at the Kremlin, not the White House.

"Putin is an aggressor. He is the aggressor. And Putin must pay the price."