Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday praised US President Joe Biden after Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine.
“True words of a true leader. Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
The tweet came hours after Biden, while delivering remarks in Menlo, Iowa, accused Putin of committing genocide in Ukraine as he blamed the Russian President for recent price hikes at the pump.
"Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away," he said.
Biden had previously stopped short of calling the atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha a genocide, when asked by reporters whether Russian actions there fit that definition.
The President later doubled down on his remarks, telling reporters, “Yes, I called it genocide. It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“And we’re gonna only learn more and more about the devastation and we’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies but it sure seems that way to me,” he added.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said on Tuesday night it was not possible to draw 100% firm conclusions about whether Russian forces had used chemical weapons in Mariupol.
The Ukrainian President added that “repeated threats” by some in Russia to use chemical weapons meant that the West needed to act now to prevent such weapons from being deployed.
The statement came a day after Ukrainian forces and officials accused Russia of using chemical weapons in Mariupol.
Zelenskyy warned on Monday night that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine and called on the West to impose strong sanctions on Moscow that would deter even talk of the use of such weapons.
"We treat this with the utmost seriousness," he said, though he did not state that chemical weapons had already been used.