Biden alludes to regime change, ‘genocide’ in Mariupol

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Biden alludes to regime change

During his visit to Poland, US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”. That got him a lot of criticism. The Kremlin took the words as a call for a change of regime in Russia. 

It was not intended that way, the White House later stated. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, wonders whether the West is afraid of Russia.

Biden’s rhetoric towards Russia was not intended to bring about regime change. The US president only meant that Putin should not be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors and the region. 

That’s what a White House official said after Biden’s speech in an attempt to calm the mood.

Former UN diplomat Robert Serry said in With the Eye on Tomorrow that Biden’s words at least came across as alluding to regime change.

“If you still want to negotiate with someone and think that this conflict can still be ended through peace negotiations, then you really don’t say things like this,” Serry said. Biden’s comment may thus contribute to a longer duration of the war.

Biden alludes to regime change, ‘genocide’ in Mariupol

Ukrainian President Zelensky, meanwhile, wondered aloud whether the West is afraid of Russia. He did that on Saturday evening visibly irritated in a video message. 

Zelensky again called on the international community to provide more heavy weapons. He insisted on fighters and tanks. “Ukraine cannot shoot down Russian missiles with shotguns and machine guns,” Zelensky said.

According to Zelensky, the Russian army can pose a threat to NATO neighboring states if they do not come up with the requested weaponry.

“If Ukraine’s partners do not help Ukraine with planes and tanks, and they have that chance, then there is a great risk that the Russian army poses a missile threat not only to the territory of our neighbors – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic States – but also a direct general military threat,” the Ukrainian president warned.

The mayor of Mariupol also spoke serious words during an interview with the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN . 

There is extremely heavy fighting in the southern port city, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said.

According to him, the Russian army is guilty of genocide. Mariupol has been cut off from clean water, gas and electricity for weeks and there is hardly any food for the civilians left behind.

Boychenko accuses the Russian army of brutal actions against all residents of the badly damaged city, including ethnic Russians. “They were not instructed to protect anyone,” said the mayor.

 “Their job is simply to wipe the city off the face of the earth, including its inhabitants.”

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