At the end of what had been a largely flawless visit to Europe, during which he focused on the misery Vladimir Putin was imposing on Russia, Joe Biden closed his 27-minute speech on Saturday evening in Warsaw by conjuring up the image of a less popular US president – George W Bush – when he said: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
The US president has previously called Putin a killer, a pure thug, a war criminal and a butcher, but he had never advocated regime change, risking turning the war for the defence of Ukraine to a familiar one of American aggression.
