While US President Joe Biden said that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine constituted genocide for the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia would conduct its operations “rhythmically and calmly.”
Read Also: Russia Set To Invade Ukraine In Days – Joe Biden
Biden used the phrase genocide in a speech at an Iowa ethanol facility, a notable escalation of the president’s language, and afterwards stood by the statement as he prepared to board Air Force One.
“Yes, I called it genocide because it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of being able to be Ukrainian and the evidence is mounting,” Biden said to reporters on Tuesday.
“We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.”
Although Biden has repeatedly described Putin as a war criminal, he claimed that Russia had committed genocide on Tuesday.
The Russian military has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and asserted that allegations of war crimes coming from Kiev and the West are fabrications intended to discredit Russian soldiers.
Russia withdrew from many of the villages in northern Ukraine that were strewn with the bodies of people who were murdered, tortured, and raped.
On February 24, the Kremlin reported that a special military operation was underway to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine. Ukraine and its Western allies reject this claim.
Russia’s almost seven-week assault, the worst attack against a European state since 1945, has resulted in the displacement of over 4.6 million people, the deaths of several hundred, and damage of over $80 billion.
Thousands of people were hurt, and Russia is almost completely isolated internationally.
In his first public comment on the crisis in more than a week, Putin said that the Russians would continue their operations “rhythmically and calmly” and that he was confident they would make good on security targets.