U.S. president, Joe Biden calls Putin ‘a butcher’ after meeting with refugees in Poland

US President, Joe Biden has labelled the Russian President Vladimir Putin a “butcher”.

His remarks came while he visited refugees from war-torn Ukraine in Warsaw, Poland on Saturday, March 26.

This comes a week after he called Putin a ‘war criminal’.

During the visit, Biden was asked by reporters what were his thoughts after seeing the Ukrainian refugees in Poland while he has to deal with Putin every day.

Biden responded: “He’s a butcher.” After initially looking to downplay a personal rivalry between himself and Putin.

During the brief question-and-answer session, Biden recounted how he had been to places like this in his life but said he is always surprised by “the depth and strength of the human spirit.”

“It’s incredible, it’s incredible. See all those little children. Just want to hug, just want to say thanks. I mean, it’s, just makes you so damn proud,” he said.

He added, “Each one of those children said something to the effect, ‘Say a prayer for my dad or my grandfather or my brother who’s back there fighting. And I remember what it’s like when you have someone in a war zone. Every morning you get up and you wonder. You just wonder. And you pray you don’t get that phone call.”

Last week, Biden also referred to him as a “murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.”

The US State Department on Wednesday formally declared that members of the Russian armed forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. The decision to issue a formal accusation marked a significant step by the US government after weeks of declining to officially say that the attacks committed against civilians in Ukraine were war crimes.

More than 3.5 million refugees have now fled Ukraine, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency released on Tuesday. A vast majority of those refugees have fled to Ukraine’s western neighbours across Europe.