US President, Joe Biden, has for the first time accused Vladimir Putin’s forces of committing genocide in Ukraine, where Russia intensified its campaign to take the strategic port city of Mariupol.

Biden’s accusation came as Moscow is already suspected of widespread atrocities against civilians, and is feared to be preparing a massive onslaught across Ukraine’s East that Washington warned might involve chemical weapons.

“Yes, I called it genocide,” Biden told reporters after employing the term during a speech in Iowa, after its first use by a member of his administration.

“We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me. It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian.”
US President, Joe Biden

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempted “genocide”, swiftly responded by tweeting at Biden: “True words of a true leader. Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil,” Zelensky noted, and also renewed his appeal for more heavy weapons to “prevent further Russian atrocities”.

Biden previously described Putin as a “war criminal” after the discovery of hundreds of civilians reportedly killed in Bucha, outside Kyiv, sparked global revulsion. But he stopped short of using the term “genocide,” in line with longstanding US protocol, because of its strict legal definition and the heavy implication the accusation carried.

Tunnel warriors

While the toll on towns occupied during the month-long offensive to take Kyiv like Bucha is still coming to light, the heaviest civilian toll is feared to be in Mariupol, where Zelenskyy disclosed that he believed Russia killed “tens of thousands”.

Moscow is believed to be trying to connect occupied Crimea with Russian-backed separatist territories, Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas, and has laid siege to the strategically located city. Experts revealed its fall is inevitable, but as the fighting dragged toward its seventh week, the Ukrainian Army is still clinging on.

On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, the Land Forces of Ukraine, in a Telegram notice said airstrikes on the city continued, particularly targeting its port and the huge Azovstal iron and steelworks. The latter maze-like complex has been a focus of urban resistance in Mariupol, with fighters using a tunnel system below the vast industrial site to slow Russian forces down.

Eduard Basurin, a representative for Pro-Russian Separatists in the Eastern Donetsk region said “It’s a city within a city. There are several underground levels that date back to Soviet times which you can’t bombard from above. You have to go underground to clean them out, and that will take time.” According to reporters in Mariupol, they saw the charred remains of the city, including the theatre where some 300 people are feared dead in a Russian bombardment that took place last month.

Reports emerged on Monday, April 11, 2022, from Ukraine’s Azov battalion that a Russian drone dropped a “poisonous substance” in the area, with people experiencing respiratory failure and neurological problems. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, intimated his inability to confirm the allegations, but that Washington has “credible information” suggesting that Russia might use tear gas mixed with chemical agents in the besieged port.

The world’s chemical weapons watchdog disclosed that it is “concerned” by the unconfirmed reports coming from Mariupol, and is “monitoring closely”. Pentagon Spokesman, John Kirby, warned the use of such weapons by Moscow would “elicit a response not just from the United States, but from the international community,” without elaborating.