President Joe Biden in a Thursday St. Patrick’s Day luncheon event on Capitol Hill called called Vladimir Putin a “pure thug” and “murderous dictator” – in his harshest words yet for the Russian leader since the start of the Ukraine invasion. Biden called Putin “a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.”

In separate remarks just before that event, the US president had described “Putin’s brutality and what he’s doing and his troops are doing in Ukraine is just inhumane.”

In another big development an American citizen has been killed in Ukraine – a first – reportedly amid Russian shelling of the northern city of Chernihiv. Both the US and Ukrainian governments are confirming, with the State Department saying “We offer our sincerest to the family on their loss.” The statement said, “Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment.”

According to Fox News:

Local police said that James Whitney Hill, 68, was killed during heavy Russian artillery shelling against civilians in the city of Chernihiv, according to The New York Times. His identity was confirmed by Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also confirmed that the American citizen was killed.

The American had left the below last social media post, according to Fox….

On Wednesday Biden had called Putin “a war criminal” – which the Kremlin responding by saying the US presidents words were “unforgiveable” and that Washington is bent on stoking “disgusting Russophobia”.

Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission

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