US President Joe Biden calls the Russian war in Ukraine a genocide. Additionally, he is accusing Putin is trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian”. Read to know more about the statement and the Ukrainian President’s reply.
President Biden makes a new statement
“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,” stated President Biden. At an event in Menlo, Iwa, addressing the rising prices following the war, Biden implied he thought Putin is carrying out a genocide against Ukraine. However, he did not offer further details. Moreover, neither Biden nor his administration is announcing new consequences for Russia. Additionally, they are also not offering assistance to the war-torn nation. However, last week, President Biden called Russia’s activities ‘war crimes‘.
Biden’s comment against the Russian President attracted appraisal from the Ukrainian President. President Volodymyr Zelensky is encouraging leaders from the west to use the term ‘genocide’ for Russia invading Ukraine. “True words of a true leader @POTUS. 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,” tweeted Zelensky.
What is genocide?
As per a United Nations treaty, genocide is defined actions taken with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. In the past, US leaders have been dodging the formal declaration of such campaigns as one. This is mainly because they were avoiding the trigger of an obligation. It requires signing nations to intervene once formally recognized. For example, this is the reason why President Clinton did not declare Rwandan Hutus killing 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994.
“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,” added Zelensky. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” stated Biden during his trip to Europe in March. However, he later clarified his comments. “I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change,” stated Biden.