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April 12 (UPI) -- U.S. President Joe Biden accused Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine on Tuesday, less than two weeks after he was firm in stating Moscow war crimes had yet to meet that threshold. Biden made the seemingly offhanded comment during a speech at an ethanol plant in Menlo, Iowa, while blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine for spiking gas prices in the United States.
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"Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank -- none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away," he said.
When asked about the remark by reporters at Des Moines International Airport before departing upon Air Force One, Biden doubled down.
"Yes, I called it genocide." he said.
The accusation comes nearly two weeks after he called Putin a "war criminal" and "brutal" after hundreds of dead Ukrainian civilians were found in formerly Russian-occupied cities near the capital Kyiv. The deaths, he said, were war crimes, but not genocide.
Genocide, as defined by the International Criminal Court , is a war crime "characterized by the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means."
The United States has historically been reluctant to use the politically charged legal term to describe atrocities.
Under the Trump administration, the United States first declared China was committing genocide against its Uighur minority citizens and then the Biden administration used it to describe crimes committed in Armenia during the early part of the 20th century, as well as crimes committed by the Myanmar army against its Rohingya citizens.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in March when designating Myanmar's war crimes as genocide that it was the eighth such designation by the United States.
Biden told reporters Tuesday that his escalation in rhetoric against Putin was backed by "mounting" evidence.
"It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being -- being able to be Ukrainian," Biden said Tuesday.
"We're going to only learn more and more about the devastation," he said. "And we'll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has accused Russia of committing genocide since the first weeks of the war, commended Biden for escalating his accusations against Moscow.
"True words of a true leader ... Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil," he tweeted. "We are grateful for U.S. assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities."
Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian member of parliament, responded harsher to Biden's words, stating the world is aware that Putin is committing genocide but world leaders are not responding to the threat.
"What are you and the rest of the free world leaders doing about this? The bare minimum," she tweeted.
Debate over whether Russia has committed war crimes of genocide occurs as democratic countries seek to hold the Kremlin accountable for its war in domestic and international courts and tribunals with the ICC having opened a case of war crimes committed in Ukraine going back to 2013.
