JOE BIDDEN sparked outrage with an unscripted gaffe declaring that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” which experts say risks prolonging the Ukraine conflict.

The White House frantically retracted its statement, insisting that President Barack Obama, 79, did not call for regime change in his speech in Poland yesterday.

Biden’s ostensibly off-the-cuff remark infuriated Moscow while also raising concerns in the West.

According to experts, the gaffe, Biden’s second in two days, will be interpreted in Russia as confirmation that the US is determined to depose Putin.

The Council on Foreign Relations’ President, Richard Haass, called it a bad lapse in discipline that risked extending the scope and duration of Putin’s war.

“The President just expanded US war objectives, calling for regime change,” he said.

“However desirable, it is not within our power to achieve.”

“There is a risk that it will increase Putin’s proclivity to see this as a fight to the finish, increasing the likelihood that he will reject compromise, escalate, or both.”

“The comments made an already difficult situation even more difficult, and an already dangerous situation even more dangerous.”

“What’s frustrating about this is that, up until now, the Biden administration has conducted itself with significant discipline,” the veteran diplomat added. This goes against the grain of how they have handled the crisis.

“They obviously recognise that, because they walked it back in minutes.” The issue is that, in Putin’s opinion, the President revealed his and our true intentions.

“Right now, there should be two priorities: ending the war on terms Ukraine can accept and discouraging any escalation by Putin.” And this remark contradicted both of those objectives.”

“It is not up to the President of the United States or the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmity Peskov said.

Within minutes, White House officials clarified that Mr. Biden was not advocating for regime change.

“The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region,” a spokesman said.

Emmanuel Macron was among those who criticised Biden’s remarks, saying they would make it more difficult to resolve the conflict.

According to the French President: “I believe we must do everything possible to keep the situation from spiralling out of control. Because I’m still in talks with President Putin, I wouldn’t use those words.”

He stated that the “collective goal” was to end the war “without things escalating.”

Mr. Macron continued: “This is the end goal. If we want to do this, we must avoid escalating either our words or our actions.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump claimed that his successor in the White House is “almost giving him (Putin) an incentive” to use nuclear weapons.

When asked by Newsmax whether he thought Putin would use nuclear weapons, the former US President said, “When you put him in a corner and talk the way they’re talking, you know, they’re talking weak and yet they’re almost giving him an incentive.”

“In my opinion, they (the Biden administration) are mishandling him.”

The British government has distanced itself from Biden’s remarks, stating that regime change is “up to the Russian people.”

“I think that’s up to the Russian people,” education secretary Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News.

“I believe the Russian people are fed up with what is going on in Ukraine, this illegal invasion, the destruction of their own livelihoods, their economy collapsing around them, and I believe the Russian people will decide Putin and his cronies’ fate.”

“It’s an illegal invasion of Ukraine that has to stop, and I believe that’s what the president was referring to.”

It was the second day in a row that the White House had been forced to clarify the president’s remarks.

The White House announced on Friday that no American troops would be sent to Ukraine after Biden appeared to suggest there could be “boots on the ground.”

“You’re going to see when you’re there – some of you have been there – you’re going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in front of a damn tank, saying, ‘I’m not leaving,” he told soldiers in Poland.

‘LONG FIGHT AHEAD’

Yesterday in Warsaw, Biden warned that the West would intervene if Putin moved on to “even a single inch of Nato territory.”

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said, condemning Putin’s slaughter of civilians.

During his speech, he also stated that the world must brace itself for a “long fight” and that the battle “will not be won in days or months.”

“Brutality will never crush the will to be free,” he added. Ukraine will never be a Russian victory.”

“Never, ever give up hope, never doubt, never tyre, never become discouraged,” he said, quoting Pope John Paul II. “Do not be afraid.”

Mr. Biden also sent a direct message to the Russian people, stating that they are “not the enemy.”

It comes less than 24 hours after Putin vowed to focus his army on the east, when Russian missiles injured at least five people in Kiev, Ukraine’s largest western city.

Following two massive explosions, residents were urged to seek shelter. During the attack, a fuel storage facility was set on fire.

As air raid sirens were activated in the city, which is only 45 miles from Nato member Poland’s border, thick black smoke was seen rising from a TV tower.

Ukraine estimates that it has killed 16,600 Russian troops and destroyed 582 tanks so far in the war.

And today, we learned that a Russian soldier handed over a tank in exchange for £7,500 and Ukrainian citizenship.