WARSAW — President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin “a butcher” while meeting with refugees fleeing Russia’s brutal military assault in Ukraine.
Biden said he had just met two people from Mariupol, a besieged city in the country’s southeast, while touring the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, which has been converted into a massive welcome center. The flow of refugees, the president said earlier Saturday, reminded him of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Each one of those children said, ‘Say a prayer for my dad or my grandfather or my brother,’” Biden told reporters Saturday. “‘He’s back there fighting.’”
BIDEN MEETS TROOPS AND HUMANITARIAN WORKERS IN SHADOW OF RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE
Stopping at one point, the U.S. president, who wore a suit and a cap but no tie, picked up a small girl dressed in pink and, for a few moments, held her in his arms.
He walked around the facility with a translator and met with families who had gathered around tables with plates and bottles of water.
Biden likened their concern to his own feelings about having a loved one in harm’s way. In a nod to his late son Beau’s military career, the president said he remembered “what it’s like to have someone in a war zone.”
“Every morning you get and you wonder,” he said. “You pray you don’t get that phone call.”
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Over 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine after the invasion, and at least 1,035 civilians have been killed as of Friday, according to the United Nations. Thirteen million citizens are also estimated to be stranded and unable to leave Ukraine due to security risks.
