Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Moscow for war crimes on Thursday. On Thursday, Blinken held a press conference at the State Department.
In so doing, he stated the following: “President Biden claimed war crimes were committed in Ukraine. Targeting people is a war crime, in my opinion. After all the devastation in recent weeks, I’m not sure the Russians are doing anything else.”
Russia’s Resolve to Do Damage
The Russian military attacked a theatre in Mariupol, sheltering hundreds.
On the sidewalk outside the building, the word “children” was printed in large white characters in Russian, Blinken remarked.
Secretary Blinken says he personally agrees that President Putin is committing war crimes by intentionally targeting civilians. "After all the destruction of the past three weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 17, 2022
“Russian soldiers also started firing on ten civilians waiting in the queue for bread,” he claimed, noting a “long series of assaults on civilians and nonmilitary areas around Ukraine.”
A State Department official confirmed to ABC News that a US citizen was murdered in Ukraine on Thursday after Chernihiv provincial police reported one American was killed by Russian shelling.
This week, a filmmaker and a Fox News cameraman were slain while documenting the war. “This war of aggression will have to be accountable somehow,” Blinken said of Putin.
.@SecBlinken discusses the ongoing war on in Ukraine and injuries and lives loss due to Russia’s constant attacks on innocent civilians, including children. “Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.” pic.twitter.com/4skNVWJ6PB
— Department of State (@StateDept) March 17, 2022
Despite meetings with Russian peers, Blinken claims they have not seen “any genuine effort” by Russia to end the war diplomatically. “If anything,” he cautioned, “Putin signaled he will double down.”
In a video speech to Russians, Putin stated the collective West is striving to divide our society, according to a translation.
“People, especially Russians, can identify and ‘spit out’ hypocrites,” he says. “This vital and natural self-cleansing of society will only enhance our country, unity, togetherness, and preparedness to respond to any summons to action.”
Biden’s Statement
President Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” on Wednesday.
A Kremlin official said on Wednesday, “we condemn intolerable and terrible speech by the leader of the country, whose bombs murdered hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.”
CNBC reported Psaki said on Wednesday that Biden was talking from the heart about what he had seen in the media.
A second legal process is ongoing at the State Department to examine if Putin broke international law and perpetrated war crimes.
According to ABC News, Blinken stated State Department specialists from the Office of Global Criminal Justice are collecting and reviewing evidence for a formal decision.
They will communicate the results with those accountable for accountability.
On Wednesday morning, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a virtual statement to Congress, Biden announced an extra $800 million in security aid to Ukraine.
This brings the total commitment to $1 billion in just one week and $2 billion since the Biden presidency began.
The aid will take the form of direct supplies of weapons from the Department of Defense to the Ukrainian military,” the White House declared.
“This may be a long and painful war, but the American people will not waver in their support for the people of Ukraine,” Biden stated.
