U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions against Russia on Thursday hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine, targeting four more Russian banks including its second largest, VTB.

Biden said the sanctions would target trillions in assets and also include the sanctioning of more Russian elites.

"Some of the most powerful impacts our actions will come over time as we squeeze Russia's assets to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come," Biden said.

The president added that the actions by both the U.S. and its allies, they estimate they will cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports. He said it would "strike a blow" at the nation's ability to continue to modernize its military.

He also announced he had authorized the deployment of troops already in Europe to bolster the defence of eastern NATO allies including Poland and Latvia.

The actions come after Putin defied international pressure and launched the wide-ranging attack on Ukraine early Thursday, telling the West not to intervene in what appeared to be the beginning of a new conflict in Europe.

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