Biden says Putin ‘totally miscalculated’ Ukraine invasion amid calls for air defense systems

Leaders of North Macedonia and Montenegro joined the presidents of the Bucharest Nine group to publicly condemn Russia’s recent spate of attacks across Ukraine.

“We, the Presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia condemn the mass bombardments of Ukrainian cities recently carried out by Russia, which constitute war crimes under international law,” Tuesday’s statement said.

The Bucharest Nine is a group of Eastern European NATO members in close proximity to Russia — making them particularly sensitive to aggressive moves by Moscow. The statement said that “crimes against humanity are not subject to any statute of limitations and are covered by jurisdiction of courts all over the world.” It added that threats by Russian officials to use nuclear weapons were “unacceptable.”