Washington: President Joe Biden for the first time Tuesday accused Vladimir Putin’s forces of committing genocide in Ukraine, where Russia was intensifying its campaign to subdue the devastated port city of Mariupol.
Biden’s accusation came as Moscow — already accused by the West of widespread atrocities against civilians — was feared to be readying a massive onslaught across Ukraine’s east that Washington warned might involve chemical weapons.
“Yes, I called it genocide,” Biden told reporters, hours after employing the term during a speech in Iowa — its first use by a member of his administration.
“We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me,” Biden said. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempted “genocide” — swiftly responded by tweeting at Biden: “True words of a true leader.”
“Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil,” Zelensky wrote — renewing his appeal for more heavy weapons to “prevent further Russian atrocities.”
Biden had previously described Putin as a “war criminal” as the discovery of hundreds of civilians reportedly killed in Bucha, outside Kyiv, sparked global revulsion.
But he had stopped short of using the term “genocide,” in line with longstanding US protocol, because of its strict legal definition and the heavy implication the accusation carries.
Adding to the catalogue of horrors emerging from Ukraine, Zelensky sounded the alarm Tuesday about snowballing allegations of rape and sexual assault by Russian forces.
“Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including those of young girls and very young children. Even of a baby!” the Ukrainian leader told Lithuanian lawmakers via video link.
