US President Joe Biden has said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounts to “genocide”, accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian”. He told reporters: "Yes, I called it genocide. It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices resulting from the war, Mr Biden had implied that he thought Mr Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither the president nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following Mr Biden’s public assessment.
Mr Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, but said “it sure seems that way to me”. He said: "More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies."
