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Biden says Putin is a 'BUTCHER' after emotional meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Poland including one woman who told him she wants to 'strangle the Russian leader with her bare hands': Blasts are heard in the city of Lviv just 245 miles away

  President   Joe Biden   termed Russian President Vladimir   Putin   a 'butcher' after holding emotional conversations with Ukraini...

 President Joe Biden termed Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'butcher' after holding emotional conversations with Ukrainian refugees – including a pair who fled the horror of the siege at Mariupol.

'He's a butcher,' Biden said when asked what he thought of Putin after what he has done to the people he was meeting.

His comment came as Russia bombed Lviv, a city in western Ukraine around 245 miles from the border with Poland.

Biden spent nearly an hour meeting with a series of refugees during a visit to World Central Kitchen, which set up an outpost in Warsaw as part of its efforts to help feed millions of Ukrainian refugees in Ukraine itself and in countries that are taking them in.

He offered hugs and words of comfort as he met with those who escaped the fighting and volunteers helping to feed and shelter the refugees.  

'To see all those little children just want to just want a hug. They just want to say, Thanks. 'It just makes you so damn proud. And they're wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,' Biden told DailyMail.com when asked what kind of an impression the visit made on him.

'And you know, the Ukrainian people are here, each one of those children said something in effect, say a prayer for my dad, or my grandfather, or my brother. He's back there fighting,' Biden said.

'And I remember what it's like when they have someone in a war zone. Every morning you get up and you wonder you just wondering and pray you don't get that phone call. And they're amazing group of people,' he said, referencing his late son Beau for the second time in as many days during his visit.

Biden didn't have a an answer when asked about how it would be possible to get aide inside Mariupol, which has been subject to a relentless bombardment. The administration has drawn the line on anything that would involve U.S. boots on the ground, even while surging arms to the Ukrainian military and announcing an additional $1 billion in humanitarian aide.

'It's astounding,' Biden said.

Biden also commented on Russia's claim of a new military posture, after a Kremlin defense official announced the main part of the 'first stage' of its invasion was over and it would concentrate efforts on the Donbas region.

Asked what he thought of the change in Kremlin strategy – a question he avoided earlier in the day when meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda – Biden responded: 'I'm not sure they have.' 

President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a butcher after he visited with Ukraine refugees in Warsaw

President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a butcher after he visited with Ukraine refugees in Warsaw

President Joe Biden holds a girl on his arm as he and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki meet with Ukrainian refugees

President Joe Biden holds a girl on his arm as he and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki meet with Ukrainian refugees

Biden spent nearly an hour visiting with the refugees at the PGE Narodowy Stadium, offering hugs and words of comfort

Biden spent nearly an hour visiting with the refugees at the PGE Narodowy Stadium, offering hugs and words of comfort

President Biden spoke as Russia bombed Lviv, a city in western Ukraine around 245 miles from the border with Poland

President Biden spoke as Russia bombed Lviv, a city in western Ukraine around 245 miles from the border with Poland


Biden had a series of encounters with refugees outside a soccer stadium in Warsaw, where the disaster aid NGO had set up a series of stands to provide coffee, kielbasas, and even a donut food truck.

The president had conversations with a number of refugees through a translator while sporting a Beau Biden baseball cap.

At one point he picked up a girl in a pink jacket and held her in his arms.

He hugged another young woman and put his arms on her shoulders, asking his translator: 'How do you say, in Ukrainian, who do you owe those beautiful eyes to?' 'Your father or your mother? Who had the eyes?' he asked the woman, named Victoria.

'Mother's eyes. You owe mama very big,' he said.

One refugee, Ana Stryharchuk, didn't get to the chance to interact with Biden or get the autograph she was seeking. She was in the back with her mother trying to get a glimpse of the president, as agents tried to corral photographers and aides tried to get Polish agents from blocking camera shots.

She said she fled Kiev by car two days after the start of the invasion.

'It's really exciting but I don't see him at all,' she said of Biden/.

'Thank you for all the help that we are having from the United States,' she said.

Poland has born the brunt of the refugee crisis.

Some 3.5 million people have fled the Ukraine and nearly 2 million are in Poland, which shares a nearly 300-mile border with its neighbor. 

Humanitarian organizations, NGOs, and governments around the world have sent food, money and medical equipment to help what the United Nations is calling the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.

Biden thanked Polish President Andrzej Duda for his country's response to the humanitarian crisis and pledging U.S. financial aid.  

'We do acknowledge Poland has taken on a lot with all of the responsibility,' Biden said in a meeting with Duda ahead of his visit to the refugee center.

President Putin has continued his shelling campaign of Ukraine

President Putin has continued his shelling campaign of Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, hugs a woman as he visits Ukrainian refugees

U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, hugs a woman as he visits Ukrainian refugees

President Biden speaks to media during his visit to the refugee center

President Biden speaks to media during his visit to the refugee center

President Joe Biden speaks with chef Jose Andres from World Central Kitchen, who was there helping to feed the refugees

President Joe Biden speaks with chef Jose Andres from World Central Kitchen, who was there helping to feed the refugees

Duda, who appeared with Biden on Friday, said the Ukrainian refugees coming into his country are 'guests.'

'We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation,' he said.

The U.S. has been sending money and supplies but will ramp up its contributions. Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the U.S. would welcome an additional 100,000 refugees.

Biden told Duda the United States would do more to help the Ukrainian refugees.   

'We believe that we should do our part relative to Ukraine as well by opening our borders to another 100,000 people,' he said.

The funding will provide food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance, according to the White House. 

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