Zelensky says Putin committing ‘genocide’ and warns of Ukraine being ‘exterminated’

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Russia’s unprovoked bloody invasion of Ukraine amounts to a “genocide”, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday

The Ukrainian president was speaking on CBS News with Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, and was asked directly if Russian forces were carrying out deliberate killings of civilians in his country.

“Is this genocide?” asked Ms Brennan.

“Indeed. This is genocide,” responded the Ukrainian president.

He went on to say that his country was facing “elimination” of its nationality and system of government.

Mr Zelensky’s choice of words, while slightly egged on by CBS, are by far his strongest condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s leadership and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine thus far. US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have accused Mr Putin and Russian forces directly of committing war crimes, but have not used the word “genocide” to describe the situation thus far.

"I think he is a war criminal," said Mr Biden of Mr Putin in mid-March.

Ukraine’s president has led a persistent campaign for more military aid in the face of Russia’s invasion, which is dragging on into its second month with little sign of ending save for the withdrawal of troops from Ukraines capital region.

Military experts largely agree that Russia has given up on its attempts to seize Kyiv and oust Mr Zelensky’s government, and are largely in agreement that its forces will now seek to expand territorial gains in the southeastern part of the country.

But the withdrawal of Russian forces from the capital region in particular has led to the discovery of horrific scenes of barbarism, including the slaughter of nearly two dozen civilians in the city of Bucha that reporters on the ground with AFP said appeared to have been executed.

"Corpses of executed people still line the Yabluska street in Bucha. Their hands are tied behind their backs with white 'civilian' rags, they were shot in the back of their heads,” the city’s mayor told Reuters, adding: “So you can imagine what kind of lawlessness they perpetrated here”.