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Happy Wednesday morning.

It seems as if the United States’ involvement in Ukraine is entering a new stage.

President Joe Biden is stepping up U.S. weapons shipments – including heavier, more lethal weapons – to Ukraine. Biden also called Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians “genocide,” the first time a top administration official used that heavily loaded term.

It’s the latest escalation of the U.S. commitment to, and involvement in, the war in Ukraine, and it comes as the White House faced pressure from lawmakers to do more to help the Ukrainians. Some in Washington believe Ukraine can defeat the far more powerful Russian forces, but what is clear is that the seven-week-old conflict is shifting into a deadlier phase with an uncertain outcome for both nations.

Biden is prepared to authorize as early as today another $750 million in weapons for Ukraine as it faces a revamped Russian offensive in the Donbas region, according to Reuters, which first broke the story. This latest U.S. shipment will include heavy artillery, as well as “Mi-17 helicopters, howitzer cannons, coastal defense drones and protective suits to safeguard personnel in the event of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack, the officials said, though they cautioned that it was not immediately clear if all of those items would end up in the final aid package,” according to the Washington Post.

Mi-17s are Russian-made helicopters used by Ukraine, Russia and dozens of other countries, including several current NATO members and other U.S. allies. They can quickly be integrated into Ukrainian service. The State Department earlier approved the transfer of former Afghan Mi-17s to Ukraine. Mexico has also shifted several Mi-17s to Ukraine.

U.S. officials will also provide “more and better intelligence with the Ukrainians, the senior defense official and an administration official said,” NBC News reported.

All this comes after Biden accused Putin and Russian forces on Tuesday of committing genocide in Ukraine, an allegation that both he and senior administration officials had avoided until then. Just last week, Biden called reports of Russian atrocities in Ukraine a “war crime” and resisted using the term genocide. Both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also declined to do so in recent interviews. Biden, however, reversed course dramatically on Tuesday.

“Yes, I called it genocide,” Biden told reporters as he prepared to leave Des Moines, Iowa, following a biofuel event. “It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of … even being able to be Ukrainian.”

Biden added: “It’s different than it was last week. More evidence is coming out of the, literally, the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine. And we’re going to only learn more and more about the devastation.”

Russian forces are accused of indiscriminate killings of Ukrainian civilians during their occupation of Bucha, a town outside of Kyiv. Russian artillery and missile attacks have also targeted civilian populations across Ukraine.

Biden has repeatedly escalated his rhetorical attacks on Putin, despite some efforts by administration officials to soften or tone down these comments. Biden is painting Russian actions in the clearest moral terms. “Genocide” and “war criminal” are heavily loaded terms that carry added legal signficance. Employing them as a part of a diplomatic strategy carries huge risks.

Biden called Putin a “war criminal” following an emotional address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Congress in mid-March, only to have White House officials try to walk back the remark.

Ten days later, Biden said Putin “cannot remain in power” during a fiery speech in Poland, only to have his aides try to walk that back too.

So this is the third time that Biden has done this, which means it’s no accident. Senior administration officials stake out carefully calibrated positions vis-a-vis the U.S. public response to developments in the Ukrainian conflict, only to see Biden reverse all of it in an instant.

Biden has been criticized harshly at times for these incendiary comments, such as after the Warsaw speech. Yet this is clearly a deliberate effort by the president to lead his administration into a more confrontational public stance with Russia on the Ukraine conflict. And so far, there’s been no effort to walk back these latest Biden remarks.

Biden’s stance on whether Russia has committed genocide in Ukraine is more in line with the view on Capitol Hill than the message emanating from Foggy Bottom or his own White House.

For instance, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this during an April 6 floor speech:

Republicans praised Biden’s comments on Putin, as well as his looming order for additional weapons transfers to the Ukrainians, although they also complained it was “overdue.” This has been a consistent theme for the GOP since the war started – Republicans generally approve of Biden’s handling of the Ukraine crisis, but then complain he’s been too slow to react.

“I don’t think the name calling is nearly as impactful as heavy weapons,” Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), a senior Republican who serves on the Intelligence Committee, told us Tuesday night. Cornyn is taking part in a bipartisan trip to Asia with Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.).

More Cornyn:

Reminder: We’re two weeks away from our first conversation in our new “Investing in Tomorrow, Today” series with Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) on equitable access to capital and credit. Join us live in person or virtually on Wed., April 27 at 9 a.m. ET. RSVP today!

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