President Biden finally appears to accuse Putin of ‘genocide’

In a speech from Iowa, President Joe Biden appears to accuse Putin of committing ‘genocide’ in Bucha

Speaking from Iowa this Tuesday, April 12, US President Joe Biden finally appeared to describe Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine as genocide. When previously asked by the press on April 5 for his views on the atrocities committed in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, he had stopped short of using that specific terminology.

During a speech about combatting inflation and the rising gas prices, he remarked, “Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,’ Biden said in his remarks on combating gas price hikes and inflation.

On April 5, Jake Sullivan, the US  National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also refused to be drawn, only insisting that the killings and barbarity seen in Bucha did not rise to the level that the US Government defined as genocide.

Sullivan said at the time, “Based on what we have seen so far, we have seen atrocities, we have seen war crimes. We have not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people rise to the level of genocide. But, again, that’s something we will continue to monitor”.

Genocide is ‘an act against members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part’, according to the US definition of the term.

Last Monday, Joe Biden had called for Putin to be tried for war crimes. “You may remember I was criticised for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him – he is a war criminal”, the President said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the scenes from Bucha definitely amounted to genocide, as reported by metro.co.uk.

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