U.S. OFFICIALS RUSH TO CLARIFY BIDEN'S COMMENT ON RUSSIA'S PUTIN

WASHINGTON—President Biden’s remark that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” came under fire for muddying U.S. policy and threatening to undermine diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Administration officials and Democratic lawmakers said Sunday the off-the-cuff remark was an emotional response to the president’s interactions in Warsaw with refugees—some of whom had fled violence in Mariupol, a Ukrainian southern port city under weekslong Russian bombardment and attacks on civilians.

Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Mr. Biden’s comments were “a principled human reaction to the stories that he had heard that day.”

Speaking in the Polish capital of Warsaw on Saturday, Mr. Biden appeared to issue his strongest condemnation of Mr. Putin to date. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Mr. Biden said at the conclusion of his speech.