Biden accuses Russia of violating U.N. charter

STORY: BIDEN: "Let us speak plainly: a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase the sovereign state from the map."

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday took aim squarely at Russia in an address to the United Nations General Assembly, calling Moscow's invasion of Ukraine a blatant violation of the world body's core principles.

BIDEN: "This war is about extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine's right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should not, that should make your blood run cold."

Biden's remarks come the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to call up hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers to fight in Ukraine, threw his support behind annexing parts of that country's territory, and made a thinly-veiled threat he might use nuclear weapons to defend Russia.

Biden said Putin's aggressive posture flew in the face of the United Nations' mission of peace and sovereignty .

BIDEN: "Again, just today, President Putin has made overt nuclear threats against Europe and a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the nonproliferation regime."

STOLTENBERG: "This is dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric..."

The head of NATO warned Putin against what he called dangerous rhetoric. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia would not achieve its military aims in Ukraine, and that no one would win a nuclear confrontation.

STOLTENBERG: "He [Putin] knows very well that a nuclear war should never fought and cannot be won and will have unprecedented consequences for Russia."

Russia's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden's remarks. Moscow calls the fighting in Ukraine part of a "special military operation" to defend Russian-speaking minorities from what it calls dangerous nationalists in Kyiv.