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Russia's war in Ukraine is intensifying, looking increasingly dire for Ukrainians every day. America's response is intensifying, too, in a largely bipartisan way. The White House announced more sanctions Wednesday that expanded to Russian ally Belarus. Here's a look, after President Biden's forceful Ukraine comments in his State of the Union address, at the state of U.S. politics on this global crisis. There's clearly bipartisan support for protecting the people of Ukraine  Biden delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday night. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | Bipartisan standing ovations at State of the Union addresses are rare these days. But Biden got a few of them with his lines on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin "thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over," Biden said, to a standing ovation of most lawmakers in attendance. "Instead he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people." There's bipartisan support for punishing Russia via sanctions Biden's been forthright that while he can't stop this invasion — politicians as ideologically far from him as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) agree it's the wrong thing to do to send U.S. troops into Ukraine — he can punish Russia for it. And so far, he's gotten begrudging respect from Republicans in the foreign policy community for the tough sanctions he's issued in concert with Europeans. (Although they think Biden should have done them sooner.) But overall, Republicans in Congress see the power of unifying with Democrats against Russia right now. "Now that we're in a post-invasion world," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said recently, "I think it's absolutely critical that we rally together as Americans, both Republican and Democrat." That helps explain why Congress could quickly pass a bipartisan bill to give Biden even more money than he's requesting to help Ukraine. Lawmakers are even considering ending trade with Russia, reports The Post's Tony Romm. There's little to no room for Putin apologists in the GOP  Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday in Orlando. (John Raoux/AP) | Well before this invasion, there was a push in the Republican Party, led President Donald Trump, to give Putin the benefit of the doubt on a number of things, specifically Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. It seemed that GOP empathy for Russia had the potential to become widespread. And why not? Trump has pressured Republicans into denying a legitimate presidential election and to be skeptical of international trade deals. But even Trump's hold on the Republican Party is no match for the invasion of Ukraine. As The Post's Aaron Blake notes, recent polls show that Americans — including Republicans — side with Ukraine over Russia, and a new Post poll shows that at least three-quarters of Republicans think of Russia as "unfriendly" or "the enemy." Trump risks becoming even more on an island on this. At the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend, he condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine for the first time we're aware of — but he stopped short of denouncing Putin. Instead, Trump doubled down on his previous praise of Putin while slamming Biden and other world leaders as weak. "The Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling," he said. But later he said of Putin: "Of course, he's smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb." It's too early to say whether Trump's out-there position on Putin could cost him any support in the Republican Party. What's a war crime? And other questions you have Q: What's a war crime? Can Putin be declared a war criminal, and how? A: A war crime is a violation of internationally agreed-upon rules of war. That can be any number of things: There are certain kinds of terrible weapons (such as biological ones) that are banned. You can't purposefully target civilians or a school, or wantonly destroy property. The rules get tightened after major wars, as with the 1949 Geneva Conventions after World War II. As for how Putin could be declared a war criminal, first we would need evidence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says there's enough evidence. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agrees, and he filed a resolution he wants the Senate to pass lending its support to Ukraine's complaint. But: "It's too early to say that," Biden said when asked Wednesday whether Putin was a war criminal, while adding it's clear that Russia is deliberately targeting civilians. More than three dozen members of Congress, from both parties, drew their line in the sand: Politico reports they'll call for an international court investigation "should anything happen" to Ukraine's president. If an international court took up the case, it would investigate and probably hold a trial, which could result in declaring Putin a war criminal. But it would take years to resolve, and the outcomes of such cases have little real-world impact, writes Marti Flacks, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Still, she says, it's symbolically resonant. Many Nazis were tried and convicted as war criminals, and they'll go down in the history books as such. Q: Why isn't Ukraine allowed into NATO? A: It wants to be, but NATO says it hasn't met the democratic requirements yet. Left unsaid, though, is that Russia really doesn't want Ukraine to be part of NATO, and Russia is a major exporter of gas to Europe. | 
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