The White House was forced to clarify comments from Joe Biden after he called for Vladimir Putin to be toppled.
The US president, speaking in Poland, warned that the West would intervene if the Russian leader moved on to “one single inch of Nato territory”. He added: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
No sooner had Biden ended his speech than the White House issued a statement saying he was not referencing a “regime change”. A spokesman added: “The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region.”
It was the second day in a row that the White House had been forced to clarify comments made by the president. On Friday, the White House said American troops would not be going into Ukraine after Biden appeared to suggest there could be “boots on the ground”. He told paratroopers in Poland. “You’re going to see when you’re there — some of you have been there — you’re going to see women, young people, standing in the middle, in front of a damn tank, saying, ‘I’m not leaving.’”
Biden’s mention of “when you’re there” seemed to suggest that the troops would be deployed across the border, but the administration insisted there has been no change in stance.
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Speaking just hours after Russia bombarded the Ukrainian city of Lviv, just 45 miles from the Polish border, Biden made a passionate defence of liberal democracy and the Nato military alliance.
Europe must “steel” itself for a “long fight ahead” in Russia’s war with Ukraine, he said. Biden delivered what was described by the White House as a major address in front of the Royal Castle, one of Warsaw’s notable landmarks, which badly damaged during the Second World War.
While there have been suggestions that Moscow is pulling back forces to focus on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, UK defence and security sources claimed Russia was merely seeking to regroup before launching fresh offensives.
Their fears appeared to be vindicated as Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of Lviv, confirmed that missile and rocket strikes had hit the outskirts of the city — first striking a fuel depot, then another location. Five people were injured.
Missiles struck an aircraft repair facility near Lviv’s airport a week ago but the city had otherwise been left unscathed. Addressing a thousand-strong audience that included refugees who had fled the war, Biden told Ukrainians, “We stand with you — period” as he defended the nation’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
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“Putin has the gall to say he’s denazifying Ukraine. It’s a lie, it’s just cynical — he knows that,” Biden said.
“And it’s also obscene. President Zelensky was democratically elected, he’s Jewish, his father’s family was wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust and Putin has the audacity — like all autocrats before him — to believe that might will make right.”
In a direct appeal to the Russian people, he made a comparison between the invasion of Ukraine and the horrors of the Second World War.
The president said Moscow’s troops had “met their match with brave and stiff Ukrainian resistance” and had strengthened the resolve and unity of both the defending forces and the West.
Biden said Russia had been “bent on violence” and insisted there was “simply no justification or provocation” for the invasion.
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Sanctions, he said, have been sapping Russia’s strength and have reduced the rouble “to rubble”.
Biden’s intervention came as the Russian retreat appeared to continue, with Zelensky claiming his troops had delivered “powerful blows” to the invading forces and urder Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.
Ukrainian forces are also believed to be regaining ground around Kyiv, with the UK Ministry of Defence stating that the Russians were “proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations”.
Although the Russian advance may have been stalled, shelling and missile attacks have continued to terrorise cities from Kyiv to Chernihiv and Kharkiv. Officials in the southern port city of Odesa claimed to have repelled an attempt to land boats along the coast.
