President Biden has, for the first time, accused Russia of committing “genocide” in Ukraine, using a harsh international legal term that could raise the stakes for all sides in the nearly seven-week invasion.
He said Russian strongman Vladimir Putin used the invasion to “try to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa on Tuesday. “It’s become clearer and clearer.”
Biden and other Western leaders had steered clear of using the term “genocide” because it has specific implications under international law and could potentially complicate peace negotiations with Putin or efforts to hold him accountable for atrocities committed by Russian invaders.
The American president’s comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been pushing Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far, and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
Biden said it would be up to legal war crimes experts to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed.
“It sure seems that way to me,” Biden 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.”
Last week, Biden said he believed Russia’s actions amounted to “war crimes,” but not necessarily genocide.
A United Nations treaty, to which the U.S. is a party, defines genocide as actions taken with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Some invasions or attacks on other nations may be bloody and unjustifiable without being classified as “genocide” because they don’t aim to destroy an entire people.
