White House rows back Biden’s remarks about ‘butcher’ Putin

“For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power,” the US president said at the close of his speech

President Joe Biden gives a speech in Warsaw (Evan Vucci/AP)

The White House scrambled to row back Joe Biden’s declaration that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, insisting he was not calling for a regime change.

In an impassioned speech in Warsaw, the US president appealed to Russian people directly, with comparisons between the invasion of Ukraine and the horrors of the Second World War.