Ukrainian ambassador gets standing ovation, as Biden praises Ukraine’s strength in State of the Union

Almost as soon as his State of the Union address began on Tuesday, President Biden sought to unify the Democratic and Republican parties against Russia following its recent attack on Ukraine, leading a standing ovation for the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States.

Fewer than a dozen sentences into his speech, the president accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of trying to “shake the foundation of the free world” by invading neighboring Ukraine last week. Putin “badly miscalculated,” Biden said.

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It was also reminiscent of a 2005 speech to Congress by then-Ukraine President Viktor Yuschenko, said Richard Fontaine, the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank. “The unity of American support, across party lines, was remarkable,” said Fontaine, who was then an adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain.

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