Biden: Russia war a 'genocide,' trying to 'wipe out' Ukraine

DES MOINES, Iowa — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”

Speaking in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, Biden said he meant it when he said at an earlier event that Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine.

“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”

President Biden labels Putin's invasion of Ukraine a "genocide" for the first time:

"Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank — none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away." pic.twitter.com/RlOpN3OpMi

— The Recount (@therecount) April 12, 2022

Biden added that it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, but said “it sure seems that way to me.”

Biden tells reporters that he referred to what is happening in Ukraine as a genocide earlier today because “it’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian.”

“And the evidence is mounting,” he said.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) April 12, 2022

“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,” he said.

Biden had previously said he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted “war crimes.”

Past American leaders often have dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s in Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation under an international genocide convention that requires signing countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified. That obligation was seen as blocking President Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide, for example.