On February 23 of last year, the day before the invasion began, the New York Times editorial board wrote that "an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign European state is an unprovoked declaration of war on a scale, on a continent and in a century when it was thought to be no longer possible."

After the war began, the Biden White House released a statement titled "Remarks by President Biden on Russia's Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine." Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared Biden's statement on Twitter with the comment "Russia's premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine blatantly disregards the lives of innocent men, women, and children, Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and international law."