US Biden compares Ukraine situation to Tiananmen: "Putin is a war criminal"

President Joe Biden of the United States
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] On the 25th (local time), U.S. President Joe Biden compared the Ukraine crisis to the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident in China.

Visiting Europe for the first time since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, President Biden made this remark during a meeting with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division deployed in Rzesz?w, Poland, 80 km from the Ukrainian border, and relief organization officials assisting refugees.

President Biden said, "If we talk about what happened in Tiananmen Square, this is the square of the incident that occurred in Tiananmen Square."

On June 4, 1989, Chinese authorities deployed martial law troops to disperse students, workers, and citizens protesting for democratization in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries.

President Biden criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, "Frankly, he is a war criminal," and added, "This probably fits the legal definition as well."

He then encouraged U.S. troops, saying, "You are in the middle of a war between democracy and dictatorship," and "What you are doing is truly significant." About 15,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Poland. On the day, President Biden had pizza with the soldiers and also visited a local barbershop.

President Biden landed in Rzesz?w near the Ukrainian border after attending consecutive summits of NATO, the Group of Seven (G7), and the European Union (EU) in Brussels the previous day to discuss responses to Russia.

He is scheduled to depart for Warsaw afterward, where on the 26th he will hold talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda and visit a Ukrainian refugee reception center.

Poland, an EU member and NATO ally, has accepted 2.24 million Ukrainian refugees since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last month and has provided financial and military support to Ukraine.