US President Biden accuses Russia of genocide

Berlin US President Joe Biden has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of genocide over the war atrocities in Ukraine. The evidence for this was piling up, said Biden on Wednesday night German time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the Russian attack on Mariupol to the Nazi siege of Leningrad in World War II.

In Germany, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck pushed for rapid arms deliveries to Ukraine. However, there is also irritation in Berlin because Kyiv has refused a visit from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The Ukrainian military reported on the actual war events in the morning of new air raids on Mariupol, the port city in southern Ukraine that had been under siege for weeks and was largely destroyed. The city of Kharkov in the east of the country was shelled by Russian artillery. The information cannot be independently verified. Russia attacked the neighboring country almost seven weeks ago and, according to Ukraine and Western governments, is preparing a major offensive in the east of the country.

However, the Russian military had withdrawn from the area around the capital Kyiv in the past few days. Large-scale destruction, mass graves and corpses were found in the streets there.

“I called it genocide because it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to erase the idea of ​​being Ukrainian at all,” US President Biden said during a visit to the US state of Iowa. “There is literally more and more evidence coming to light about the terrible things that the Russians did in Ukraine.” Ultimately, however, international lawyers would have to decide whether it was genocide.

Zelenski praised Biden’s words: “Calling things by their proper name is important if you want to stand up to evil,” he wrote on Twitter. In his video speech published that night, Zelensky reacted violently to Putin’s statement the day before that the campaign was going according to plan.

mockery of Putin

What good is a plan that envisages the death of tens of thousands of your own soldiers, asked Selenski. He spoke of 20,000 Russian soldiers killed. Western estimates are lower.

Zelensky said the Russian siege of the now largely destroyed southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol resembled the German Wehrmacht’s blockade of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) between 1941 and 1944 — one of the worst Nazi war crimes.

The Ukrainian President called for preventive steps against the possible use of weapons of mass destruction by Russia. Zelensky referred to reports from Mariupol the day before that Russia had attacked there with an unidentified chemical substance. The control authority OPCW in The Hague also expressed concern about this possible use of chemical weapons.

More coverage of the Ukraine war

Zelensky also suggested replacing the arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk with Ukrainians held in Russian captivity. The politician and oligarch Medvedchuk is considered the closest ally of Kremlin chief Putin in Ukraine. He is accused of high treason and embezzlement in Kyiv. He was arrested by the Ukrainian secret service SBU on Tuesday.

“Now the stuff has to go down there”

In Germany, the struggle continues as to how Ukraine can be given more support – with heavy weapons and further sanctions such as an energy embargo against Russia. Vice Chancellor Habeck said on Tuesday evening on ProSieben and SAT.1 about arms deliveries: “It’s no use saying: In nine months you’ll get something. Now that stuff has to go down there. And that’s how we act.” Ukraine is demanding, among other things, battle tanks, artillery pieces and air defense systems.

After a visit to Ukraine, the three traffic light politicians Michael Roth (SPD), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) and Anton Hofreiter (Greens) also called for further arms deliveries and the fastest possible ban on imports of Russian oil. Germany must take on even more responsibility, they declared together. However, the members of the Bundestag criticized the fact that Kyiv had uninvited the Federal President.

Steinmeier himself had said that his visit was obviously not wanted. The background is probably Steinmeier’s policy as a former foreign minister, who criticized Ukraine for being pro-Russian. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was invited to Kyiv, however, the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk also made clear on ProSieben and SAT.1. The visit should be about how Germany could help Ukraine with heavy weapons.

Scholz thanks companies for their support

Scholz met with representatives of German business on Tuesday evening and then thanked them for supporting the sanctions policy against Russia because of the Ukraine war. “Big thanks to the economy for the broad support,” wrote Scholz on Twitter. However, the companies had pointed out that there were already restrictions in the supply chains and difficulties due to high energy prices.

There is also concern that the war will cripple Ukraine’s agriculture, which is one of the world’s largest grain producers. However, the Ukrainian government emphasized during the night that spring sowing had begun in almost all parts of the country, regardless of the fighting. The exception is the contested eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, said Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal.

That’s going to be important today

Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin is visiting Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. The topic is likely to be the possible NATO accession of both countries as a result of the Ukraine war. At 2:00 p.m., the Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, will speak via video link in the Leipzig City Council.

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