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Biden gets praise, criticism for calling Russia's actions in Ukraine 'genocide'

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Thursday, 14 April, 2022, 10:18
Biden gets praise, criticism for calling Russia's actions in Ukraine 'genocide'

President Joe Biden is getting both praise and criticism after doubling down on describing Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine as "genocide" -- the first time he's used the term since the invasion began nearly 50 days ago -- even as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for weeks has claimed that is what's happening on the ground.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended his use of the term, as she did when Biden called Putin a "war criminal" and when he said "cannot remain in power," saying Wednesday the president was simply expressing "what he feels."

"The president was speaking to what we all see, and what he feels as clear as day in terms of the atrocities happening on the ground, as he also noted yesterday," Psaki said, before tempering his use of the term. "Of course, there will be a legal process that plays out in the courtroom but he was speaking to what he has seen on the ground, what we have all seen in terms of the atrocities on the ground."