In a forceful speech at the end of his European trip, President Biden ended his remarks by saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”
The Washington Post writes:
The president’s remark initially seemed to suggest support for regime change — something the Biden administration has taken pains to avoid — though the White House later said Biden only meant Putin should not be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.
The New York Times adds context:
In a speech from a castle that served for centuries as a home for Polish monarchs, Mr. Biden described the face-off with Mr. Putin as a moment he has long warned about: a clash of competing global ideologies, of liberty versus oppression.
Also in the speech, Biden called Putin a “dictator” warning him not to advance “one inch on NATO territory.”
The President met earlier with Ukrainian refugees who escaped to Poland. The Times writes:
After holding a small Ukrainian girl in his arms for a selfie, the president responded to a question from a reporter by calling the Russian leader “a butcher” for the crushing shelling of Mariupol, the eastern city in Ukraine which has been largely demolished by Russian forces.