“I think he’s a war criminal,” Biden told reporters.
White House spokeswoman Jena Psaki said the president had spoken wholeheartedly after watching Ukrainian war reports on television.
Psaki pointed out that the US State Department has already started legal proceedings to investigate Russia’s actions.
This is the first time Biden has used the phrase “war criminal” when referring to Putin.
The US president later wrote on Twitter: “Putin is wreaking havoc on Ukraine (…) – bombing homes and maternity wards.”
Commenting on reports that Russian troops had taken hostage doctors and patients to a hospital in Mariupol, Biden said: “This is atrocity. It is causing outrage to the whole world.”
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