Biden Calls For War Crimes Trial Against Putin

President Joe Biden has called for a war crimes trial against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden told reporters in Washington, D.C. Monday that he stands by his declaration that Putin is “a war criminal.” The president initially made the comment on March 16, just days before the U.S. would announce its assessment “that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.”

“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter – we saw it happen in Bucha – this warrants him – he is a war criminal,” Biden said Monday morning.

Biden said that the administration has to “gather the information” in order to move ahead with a war crimes trial. He cited recent reports from areas of Ukraine that included mass graves in Bucha.

“But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue to fight, and we have to get all the detail so this could be – actual have a war crimes trial. This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone’s seen it,” Biden said.

Over the weekend, the Russian army retreated from the suburbs of Kyiv and other areas of Ukraine, but the retreat came with reports of massacres, and hundreds left dead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday called the aftermath a “genocide.”

“This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine, and we don’t want to be subdued to the policy of the Russian Federation. This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated, and this is happening in the Europe of the 21st century. So this is the torture of the whole nation,” Zelenskyy said.

Biden said he didn’t believe the actions were “genocide” when pressed on the issue Monday morning.

“No, I think it is a war crime,” Biden said.