This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The U.S. military accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in their bloody invasion of Ukraine, echoing comments made by President Joe Biden and by European Union and Ukrainian officials.
“We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing on March 21.
“But there’s investigative processes that are going to go on, and we’re going to let that happen. We’re going to contribute to that investigative process,” he said. “As for what would come out of that, that’s not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague generally prosecutes alleged war crimes.
The Pentagon accused the Kremlin of carrying out indiscriminate attacks as part of an intentional strategy in the conflict.
The Pentagon comments follow remarks by Biden, who said he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “war criminal” for actions in Ukraine and by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said that what Russian forces were doing in their assault on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol “is a massive war crime.”
Russian forces continued their campaign to seize Mariupol on March 21, with bombing reducing much of the city to rubble amid thousands of casualties among civilians.
Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and has hit military and civilian areas in many major cities, including Kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv, leading to widespread condemnation from world leaders and street protests in many cities.
