As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ground into its third week — with mounting civilian casualties, President Joe Biden explicitly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” as the war continues.
After weeks of avoiding the term and at a time whenWestern policymakers are still determining whether that label officially applies, Biden made the dramatic accusation seemingly off the cuff, in response to a reporter’s shouted question at an afternoon event on an entirely different topic.
“I think he is a war criminal,” said Biden, after delivering comments on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
The assertion was emblematic of the day’s high emotions and dramatic agenda, which were driven by a forceful speech to Congress delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, rather than by Biden’s own carefully laid plans and message.
Biden watched Zelensky’s 9 a.m. address from the private library of his White House residence, absorbing an emotional plea that invoked both Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11 — two deadly attacks on the United States that came from the sky — and beseeched the president to close the skies above Ukraine.