US President Joe Biden has said that “dictator” Vladimir Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine.

Speaking in Iowa in the US about domestic energy needs, Biden went further than any other member of his administration in describing civilian killings in Ukraine.

Biden told citizens in Iowa that their budget could not depend on “a dictator who commits genocide and is trying to erase the horrific evidence that the Russians have done in Ukraine.”

“Your family budget, your ability to fill your tank, none of which should depend on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” Biden said.

US officials have accused Russia of committing war crimes, but so far have not gone so far as to call it “genocide.”

Biden later said it was the lawyers who would decide if genocide had been committed.

“It certainly seems like genocide to me,” he told reporters after his speech.