Various news sources have described the Russian invasion of Ukraine today this way;

• Russia wants more than Ukraine,
• defending Ukraine will be a long haul,
• sanctions never intended to work,
• 'weakness invites aggression'.

Ukrainian officials said Russia had attacked on a wide front along the country’s frontiers from Belarus to the north, Russia to the east and Russian-controlled Crimea in the south. By nightfall, Russian forces captured the now-defunct, Soviet-built Chernobyl nuclear power station, the site of the world’s worst atomic energy disaster, and the surrounding exclusion zone, Kyiv said. Biden hits Moscow with new sanctions. He said the sanctions, in coordination with a coalition of other nations, would target four more major Russian banks, including VTB, and would make it harder for Russia to do business in dollars, Euros, pounds and yen. There will also be "new limitations" on what can be exported to Russia, he said. On Tuesday, the White House announced sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. Biden says 'no-one expected sanctions to prevent anything from happening,' despite prior White House claims, "This is going to take time... But, Biden’s claim that the sanctions were not expected to prevent Russia's actions was in stark contrast to past claims by the administration -- including his own vice president. "The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence," Vice President Kamala Harris said on Sunday, before the U.S. imposed sanctions. Furtheer contradictions on sanctions were provided today by an another administration official. "They’re not an end to themselves. Sanctions are meant to serve a higher purpose, which is to deter and prevent," the official said.

On Feb. 11, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said that “the President believes that sanctions are intended to deter.” Today, @potus told us: “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening." Those are basically the opposite of each other.

— Michael D. Shear (@shearm) February 24, 2022

"There has been weakness projected by this administration, and weakness invites aggression," Rep. Claudia Tenney (Ohio-R) told Fox News.

It is easy to point at Joe Biden's weak leadership here, but in all fairness, he is not alone. Every one of the world leaders and world organizations is weak. The UN is a joke. NATO, because of Trump's efforts to shore up commitment to the organization is better, but, not there yet, primarily because of weak leadership within the member countries. No one stands up to the world's aggressors, the ideologues or the tyrants anymore. No one wants war on a worldwide scale for sure, but, you do not win or maintain the peace through weakness & fear. Someone has to stand up. Right now, only Putin is standing up.

No, I take that back, Chairman Xi is too. More From The Wall Street Journal:

More From FoxNews: More From MSNBC: