US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (local time) called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “genocide” as he attempted to explain the rising inflation in the country. The US President further accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
In fact, we’ve already made progress since March inflation data was collected. The family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide and half a world away,” Biden said while delivering remarks on infrastructure in Iowa.
Biden later said that he meant to refer to the situation as genocide, and although it seems that way to him, the US will let lawyers decide whether or not it qualifies. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is trying to wipe out the idea of being Ukrainian. The evidence is mounting. It looks different than last week,” Biden said.
“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine… we’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies but it sure seems that way to me.”
Earlier, the US President had said that he had not seen any indications of genocide in Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden added that his administration is doing everything possible to lower prices in the US and to address “Putin’s price hike.”
Biden’s comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
On February 24, Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine, which the West has termed an unprovoked war. As a result of this, the Western countries have imposed several crippling sanctions on Moscow.
