President Joe Biden responds to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, March 16, 2022, in Washington. He s a war criminal, Biden said as he left the event to mark the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (AP)
``He's a war criminal,'' the president said of Putin as he left an unrelated event. It's the sharpest condemnation yet of Putin and Russian actions by a US official since the invasion of Ukraine.
While other world leaders have used the words, the White House had been hesitant to declare Putin's actions those of a war criminal, saying it was a legal term that required research.
But in a speech Wednesday, Biden said Russian troops had bombed hospitals and held doctors hostage. He pledged more aid to help Ukraine fight Russia.
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