The US Department of Defense spokesman was very moved when speaking about the atrocities in Ukraine and attacked Vladimir Putin very directly.
The Pentagon on Friday accused Vladimir Putin of “depravity” and “cruelty” for the behavior of Russian forces in Ukraine, where they are accused of killing civilians, including children.
Asked during a press conference about the Russian president’s psychological state at this stage of the conflict, US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby was on the verge of tears when he referred to the atrocities attributed to Russian forces.
“It’s hard to look at certain images and imagine that a serious leader could do that,” said he, who is usually known for his mastery in front of the cameras and his slime. “I don’t know his mental state, but I think we can talk about his depravity,” he added.
“It’s just unacceptable”
The Kremlin master’s “bizarre” arguments that this war is being fought to protect Ukraine’s Russian minority from Ukrainian Nazism he called “bullshit” and noted that it was “difficult to reconcile this rhetoric with the what she is doing in Ukraine shot innocent people in the neck, hands tied behind their back, killed on women, killed pregnant women, bombed hospitals”.
“It’s just ruthless,” added John Kirby, who has become one of the main faces of the US government with daily press briefings since the invasion began and is on a Moscow-sanctioned list of American figures. The spokesman acknowledged that despite the brutality of previous Russian military operations, such as in Chechnya or Syria, Washington did not expect such violence against Ukrainian civilians.
“We knew that Vladimir Putin was capable of defending Russia’s national interests coolly and with brutal determination,” he said. “We were not fully aware of the level of violence, cruelty and, as I said, depravity that he would inflict on innocent, non-combatant civilians.”
Ukraine and Western countries have accused Russia of “massacres” and “war crimes” since hundreds of bodies were discovered in several locations in the Kyiv region occupied by Russian forces in March.