U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the press about the war in Ukraine at the State Department in Washington, DC, March 17, 2022.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he believes Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine, citing numerous incidents of attacks on civilians.
“President Biden said he believed war crimes had been committed in Ukraine. Personally, I agree. Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime,” Blinken said during a press conference at the State Department.
“After all the devastation of the last three weeks, it’s hard for me to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise,” he added.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for his unprovoked attack on Ukraine. This was the first time Biden had publicly branded Putin with such a term.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Biden spoke from the bottom of his heart about what he saw on the news, which she called “the barbaric actions of a brutal dictator.”
She noted that a separate lawsuit is underway at the State Department to determine whether Putin violated international law and committed war crimes.
The country’s top diplomat described a long list of reports in which Russian forces targeted Ukrainian civilians.
“Russian forces bombed a theater in Mariupol where hundreds of people had taken refuge. The word “children” was written in Russian in giant white letters on the sidewalk outside the building, so that from the air it could be seen that there were children inside,” Blinken. explained.
“Russian forces also opened fire on 10 civilians who were queuing for bread,” he said, adding that so far the US has seen “a long list of attacks on civilian and non-military targets across Ukraine.”
On Wednesday, the United Nations said that since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, almost 780 civilians have been killed and more than 1,252 civilians have been injured.
Also on Wednesday, the UN Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ukraine and ordered Russia to immediately suspend the ongoing war. Previously, Russia ignored hearings at the International Court of Justice on this issue.