By WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
President Joe Biden now says Russia’s war in Ukraine amounts to genocide, accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa on Tuesday shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer.”
Last week, Biden stopped short of saying Russia’s actions amounted to genocide.
At an earlier event Tuesday in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices caused by the war, Biden had implied that he thought Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither he nor his administration announced new consequences because of the contention.
Biden’s comments drew immediate praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country. But French President Emmanuel Macron declined to take his rhetoric that far in comments Wednesday.
