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The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, joined this Thursday to the voices that condemn some attacks by the Russian army in Ukraine as war crimes. The words of the head of US diplomacy came after episodes such as the bombing of a theater in Mariupol in which hundreds of civilians took refuge, including many children, and which had a huge graffiti warning the Russian artillery that there were minors. Also after the death of ten civilians, according to local media, who were waiting in line to buy bread in Chernigov.
Under the visor, in an offhand comment, and with those fiery attacks, Biden called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a "war criminal."
The Kremlin says this statement was an "unforgivable" rhetorical escalation.
"Personally, I agree," Blinken said of Biden's analysis that war crimes have been committed. Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.
The Secretary of State advanced that the United States was in the process of documenting and evaluating information on the commission of war crimes in Ukraine and assured that the result would "serve international efforts to investigate war crimes and hold those responsible accountable." ”.
Blinken also gave a preview of what US intelligence believes Russia's next steps will be, after failing to achieve its goal of toppling the Kyiv government after three weeks of war. "We believe that Moscow could be setting the stage to use a chemical weapon and blame Ukraine to justify an escalation of attacks on the Ukrainian people," she said of what failed a pattern of Russian action. In turn, he also considered that Moscow would plan to bring “mercenaries” to the front in Ukraine to “systematic kidnapping of local rulers” and their replacement with Russian puppets.
Biden's call to Xi Jinping
On the eve of a phone conversation between Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Blinken attacked China to "reject condemnation of Russian aggression" and do no more to try to convince Putin to end the invasion. “We are concerned because we are considering directly helping Russia with military equipment for use in Ukraine,” he added, referring to allegations that Beijing has rejected.
The G7 joined the US locks in Russia's attacks: a joint statement from its foreign ministers demanded in Moscow that it comply with the order of the International Court of Justice to cease hostilities and remove its soldiers from Ukraine and condemned "indiscriminate attacks on civilians", as in the siege of Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities.
