Naval Academy Class Of 2022 Graduates, Biden Addresses Midshipmen: Photos

ANNAPOLIS, MD — President Joe Biden told more than 1,000 newly commissioned members of the United States Navy on Friday that they will be “representatives and defenders of our democracy,” as free societies are under threat from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to China’s maritime expansion.

The speech to ensigns and second lieutenants at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis was the president's first commencement address of the year.

Biden said the Western response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal” war in Ukraine shows the world is aligning not on geography, “but in terms of values.”

He called the invasion, “A direct assault on the fundamental tenets of rules-based international order,” adding, “that’s the world you’re graduating into.”

“The actions taken by Putin were an attempt, to use my phrase, to Finland-ize all of Europe, to make it all neutral,” Biden said. “Instead, he NATO-ized all of Europe.”

Biden's graduation appearances come during a difficult time in the country. Twenty-one people were killed in a school shooting Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas, and 10 were killed the week before in a mass shooting in Buffalo. Biden is also scheduled to fly to Uvalde on Sunday to console grieving families there.

See below for photos from the ceremony.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.