The Pentagon said on Monday it saw clear evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine as it emerged that the US was supplying Soviet-era air defense systems to support the Ukrainian resistance.
On the 26th day of the Russian invasion, a senior defense official said Russia had stepped up air sorties over Ukraine, but its ground offensive had largely stalled.
Last week, President Joe Biden unveiled a new weapons package for the government in Kyiv.
But it does not mention old Russian-made equipment, such as SA-8 surface-to-air missile systems, which are reportedly on the way.
The weapon will be familiar to the Ukrainian armed forces, who have used it since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the US assembled several systems, including the S-300, known to NATO as the SA-10, during the Cold War to study its Soviet technology and better understand its weaponry.
“We continue to work with our allies and key partners to deliver new aid to Ukraine every day, including Soviet or Russian-made anti-aircraft systems and the necessary ammunition for their use,” a US official told the newspaper.
The US is digging through its small stockpile of Soviet-era weapons systems and sending air defense assets such as the SA-8 mobile launcher like the one shown here to Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there was “clear evidence” that Russian forces were committing war crimes in Ukraine.
The US is also working to get Ukraine more S-300 air defense systems.
City workers dig graves on public lands to bury civilians and soldiers killed in Russian shelling of Mariupol in southern Ukraine on Sunday.
Washington has rejected calls from the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky for a NATO no-fly zone to protect civilians.
Instead, he wants Ukraine to install its air defense systems.
Other supply efforts for Kyiv include working with Slovakia to send S-300s from its arsenal.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the country last week but has yet to finalize an agreement under which the US would provide him with a replacement.
The S-8 was a step forward for Soviet defense when it entered service in 1971.
It was the first mobile missile defense system to have its own kill radars mounted on a single vehicle.
Its crew of five could stop their truck and have it ready within five minutes to attack aircraft from nearly 20 miles away.
The urgent need for air defense systems was emphasized by recent events in Ukraine.
Determined resistance stopped attempts by Russian troops to capture the Ukrainian capital.
Instead, the Russian invasion has switched to scorched earth, as in Syria and Chechnya, with airstrikes and artillery shelling of civilian areas.
US officials say it looks like an attempt to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and their will to fight.
A man walks along a road past a pro-Russian separatist tank on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol on Sunday.
Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian troops for two weeks now, who are now trying to break into the city. If it falls, it will be the largest city captured by Russian forces and open a “land corridor” from rebel-controlled areas of Donbass to Crimea for reinforcements to pass through.
“We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes, and we are helping to gather evidence of this,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing.
“But there are investigative processes that will continue, and we will allow this to happen. We are going to contribute to this investigative process. What will come out of this is not the decision of the Pentagon leadership.”
His comments come after Biden said last week that he considered Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.”
This view was quickly echoed by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
“President Biden said yesterday that he believes war crimes have been committed in Ukraine,” he said.
– Personally, I agree. Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime.
“After all the devastation of the past three weeks, it’s hard for me to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise.”