WASHINGTON — During a news conference about his new budget on Monday at the White House, President Joe Biden answered reporters’ questions about the Russia-Ukraine war.
Biden said he did not regret saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” and he will not be “walking anything back” during his speech in Warsaw.
“I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change,” Biden said adding, “This is just stating a simple fact, that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable.”
Biden said he was not concerned his remark will escalate the conflict adding there were no ongoing efforts to take Putin down. He said the way to deal with Putin is to keep NATO “completely united.”
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 3.87 million people have left Ukraine since the conflict started and Poland is hosting about 2.3 million refugees.
The conflict goes back to when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. And after a nearly eight-year conflict, separatist groups control parts of Ukraine’s Donbas region as the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics.
NATO condemned Russia’s recognition of the separatist republics on Feb. 21. Russian troops crossed the border on Feb. 24.
On Friday, the Russian military announced there were 1,351 soldiers killed during the “first stage of the operation” and troops were moving on to the “liberation” of Donbas, a region in southeastern Ukraine.
NATO disputes the number of deaths. Also on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was willing to negotiate with Russia, but he would not agree to give up the sovereignty of the Donbas region.
On Sunday, Ukrainian military intelligence reported they believe Putin wants to divide Ukraine in two and the British Ministry of Defense reported Russian forces appeared to be attempting to surround Ukrainian forces facing the separatist regions.
Diplomats from Ukraine and Russia are set to meet in Turkey.
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More on Ukraine
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- UN chief launches effort for Ukraine humanitarian cease-fire
More on Russia
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- Nuclear fears in US amid Russia-Ukraine war: AP-NORC poll
More on Biden
- Biden announces budget with min 20% tax on households worth more than $100M
- Biden says remark on Putin’s power was about ‘moral outrage’
Watch Biden’s Monday announcement
Torres contributed to this story from Miami.
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