In an interview with CNN, President Joe Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “totally miscalculated” with his invasion of Ukraine, which is approaching the eight-month mark.
“I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper, an excerpt from an interview set to air Tuesday.
The interview comes amid widespread strikes in Ukraine by Russian forces that the United Nations and Group of Seven condemned as a possible war crime. At least 19 people have been killed in the attacks.
Russia launched the widespread attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged a bridge linking the country to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Putin alleged the Ukrainian special services masterminded the Saturday attack on the Kerch Bridge.
“You listen to what he says,” Biden added. “If you listen to the speech he made … when that decision was being made, he talked about the whole idea of – he needed to be the leader of Russia that united all Russian speakers. I just think it’s irrational.”
“His objectives were not right,” the president said. “I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia, in Kyiv, he was going to be welcomed. I think he just totally miscalculated.”
In a statement released earlier Tuesday, the leaders of the Group of Seven nations condemned the recent attacks "in the strongest possible terms" and pledged to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and all responsible to account.
"Our meeting took place against the backdrop of the most recent missile attacks against civilian infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, leading to the death of innocent civilians," a statement from the G7 leaders reads. "We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms and recall that indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime. We will hold President Putin and those responsible to account."
The leaders rejected Russia's attempted annexation of four regions in Ukraine and pledged that "we will never recognise this illegal annexation or the sham referenda that Russia uses to justify it."
In their statement, the G7 leaders accused Russia of "blatantly" violating the principles of the United Nations charter – "They cannot and do not give Russia a legitimate basis to change Ukraine’s borders," they wrote – and called on all nations to demand that Russia end the conflict with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in the meeting, urging the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting Tuesday to hit Russia’s energy sector with tougher sanctions.
"There can be no dialogue with this leader of Russia, who has no future," Zelenskyy said, adding: "Now, one person is blocking peace – and this person is in Moscow."
The group said that they "reassured President Zelenskyy that we are undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
"We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support and will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes," the leaders pledged. "We are committed to supporting Ukraine in meeting its winter preparedness needs."
One expert told Spectrum News this week that Putin's attacks "really demonstrate his weakness right now" in the monthslong conflict.
"I think it's pretty clear that Putin is losing the conflict," said Robert Orttung, a research professor at Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. "And Ukrainians are demonstrating greater and greater capacity to attack them to attack their supply lines to inflict real military damage under troops."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.