White House back-pedals as Biden says Putin ‘cannot remain in power’
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden yesterday said Vladimir Putin ‘cannot remain in power,’ dramatically escalating the rhetoric against the Russian leader.
As Mr Biden’s words rocketed around the world, Washington attempted to clarify soon after he finished speaking in Poland that he was not calling for regime change in Russia.
The White House declined to comment on whether Mr Biden’s stateBen ment about Mr Putin was part of his prepared remarks.
‘For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,’ Mr Biden said in a speech in Warsaw at the end of a four-day trip to Europe.
His address came as it was revealed British-made anti-aircraft missiles are about to be deployed by Ukraine in the conflict for the first time.
British Defence Secretary Wallace told the Mail on Sunday that the Starstreak system – a shoulder-mounted missile to take down low-flying jets – was ready to be used imminently.
Russia raised the stakes yesterday by insisting it was ‘entitled’ to unleash nuclear weapons against its enemies.
Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of Russia’s security council, said Mr Putin could use nuclear
weapons ‘when an act of aggression is committed against Russia and its allies which jeopardised the existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons, that is, with the use of conventional weapons’.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday claimed Mr Putin was scaling back the invasion of his country.