After seeing the devastation left in towns once occupied by Russian troops, Vice President Joe Biden declared on Tuesday that the atrocities taking place in Ukraine qualify as genocide, a label he had previously avoided using but now believes is appropriate.
"As (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's attempts to eradicate the Ukrainian identity have become more blatant, I labeled it genocide. There's more and more evidence, "After using the term in a speech, Biden told reporters in Iowa.
"The more evidence that's coming out," he continued, "it's different than it was last week." "The devastation that the Russians have caused in Ukraine—and we're only going to learn more and more about it."
If it does qualify, "we'll have to wait and see," he said. "It certainly seems that way to me."Compared to Biden's previous claims of war crimes in Ukraine, this was a dramatic shift in rhetoric from the White House. Moreover, it appeared to be the latest example of the President allowing his feelings about the war to outpace official U.S. policy, even as he expressed a position held by many Americans who were appalled by the violence in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised it almost immediately after accusing Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine last week.On Twitter, Zelensky wrote, "True words of a true leader @POTUS. "Name-calling is an essential part of combating evil. US aid has been greatly appreciated so far, but we urgently need more heavy weapons to avert further Russian atrocities."
The term "genocide" is rarely used by the US government to describe atrocities, but previous examples include China's campaign against Uyghur Muslims and Myanmar's persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority. However, it has significant weight in Biden's efforts to unite nations around a strategy of punishing and isolating Moscow.
As recently as Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden's top advisers had argued that labeling Russia's actions in Ukraine a genocide was unnecessary. Last week, Biden asserted that there was no genocide taking place.
Images of mass graves and dead civilians have emerged from Ukraine since then, including in Bucha where images of dead civilians drew international condemnation.A dictator "commits genocide" in another country shouldn't have an impact on American budgets, Biden said earlier this week, in an apparent reference to Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At a press conference in Iowa this week, Vice President Joe Biden said that "your family's budget, the ability to fill up your tank… should not depend on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away," according to the Hill.
A week ago, I was taking a very different approach.
"No, I think it is a war crime," he said April 4 when asked if atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, would constitute genocide.
It's not "genocide" to speak out against war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, he and his aides have claimed.
"We've seen the worst of humanity's worst — atrocities and crimes against humanity. A genocide-level level of Ukrainian people's deprivation of life has yet to be witnessed "Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said as much earlier this month.Biden said earlier this week that a dictator who "commits genocide" in another country should not have an impact on American budgets, in an apparent reference to Putin and the invasion of Ukraine.
"Your family's budget, the ability to fill up your tank…should not depend on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half-a-world away," Vice President Joe Biden said this week in an Iowa press conference, according to the Hill.
I was taking a very different approach a week ago.
When asked if the atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, constituted genocide, he answered, "No, I think it is a war crime." He made the statement on April 4.
According to him and his aides, it is not "genocide" to speak out against the atrocities committed in Ukraine.
"Humanity's worst acts have been performed before our eyes, including atrocities and crimes against humanity. Deprivation of life in Ukraine has not yet reached genocide-level proportions for the Ukrainian people "According to the national security adviser Jake Sullivan, that's exactly what's happening.As an example, administration officials have cited the recent designation of Myanmar as a genocide as an example of how the label is generated. The United States had to gather evidence for years before concluding that a genocide was taking place.
U.S. officials will use a variety of indicators to make a decision in Ukraine, Sullivan said.
As Sullivan explained to CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, labeling the atrocities as "genocide" isn't as important as naming them.
'The label is less important than the fact that these acts are cruel and criminal and wrong and evil and need to be dealt with decisively,' he stated.
Biden has previously expressed views on the situation in Ukraine that differ from those expressed by his administration. He called Putin a "war criminal" in mid-March, a description his press secretary later said was "from the heart."
War crimes were officially acknowledged by the administration a few weeks later.After all, this is just the latest example of Vice President Joe Biden going above and beyond official policy.
By the time he went to Poland at the end of March, Biden had said that Putin "cannot remain in power." Later, he explained that he had just returned from an emotional visit with refugees, and that the United States was not engaged in a policy of regime change in Russia.
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