The United States said on Wednesday that the public information and intelligence it has collected constitutes strong evidence that the Russian military has committed war crimes in Ukraine.
“Today I can announce that, based on the information currently available, The United States government determines that members of the Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
He noted that since the Russians invaded Ukraine on February 24, the US government has seen “numerous credible reports of indiscriminate and deliberately targeted attacks on civilians, as well as other atrocities.”
The US assessment that war crimes were committedBlinken said, “is based on a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources.”
The head of US diplomacy indicated that Washington will continue to track and share information on accusations of war crimes with allies, institutions and international organizations.
“We are committed to holding them accountable using all available tools, including criminal proceedings,” he said.
Last week Blinken estimated that Russia was committing war crimes by attacking civilians in Ukraine, backing up earlier statements by US President Joe Biden, who called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.”
The devastation of Mariupol
Blinken did not list specific cases that the United States had concluded amounted to war crimes.
But he highlighted the devastation of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where the bombing of a maternity hospital and a theater where hundreds of civilians had taken refuge sparked global outrage.
“As of March 22, officials in besieged Mariupol said more than 2,400 civilians had been killed in that city alone,” said.
Blinken maintained that many sites targeted by Russian forces were clearly identifiable as being used by civilians. Among them he mentioned the Mariupol maternity hospital, where three people, including a child, were killed in a Russian attack on March 9.
“It also includes an attack on a theater in Mariupol,” where the word “children” had been written in Russian on the ground in huge letters clearly visible from the sky, Blinken said.
City officials said hundreds of people had taken refuge in the theater when it was bombed on March 16.
Blinken also cited a UN estimate that 2,500 civilians had been killed or wounded in other parts of Ukraine since the war began a month ago.
Could Putin be impeached?
Beth Van Schaack, the newly appointed US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, said the United States is collecting evidence to present in any war crimes proceedings that may be brought in the wake of the Russian invasion.
“This is going to be an ongoing process throughout this conflict,” he told reporters.
Cases could be filed in places ranging from the Ukrainian courts to countries in the region that could take custody of the alleged perpetrators, or that could hold trials in absentia.
He also said that the International Criminal Court, an institution that Washington has not ratified, could be a key place.
“We welcome the fact that the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has also opened an investigation into the situation in Ukraine,” Van Schaack said.
He also noted that the war crimes law allows charges to be brought against people in command positions.
“The doctrine of superior responsibility allows commanders to be held accountable for acts committed by their subordinates,” he said.
Asked if that could include Putin, Van Schaack replied “yes.”
“There are doctrines under international law and domestic law that can go all the way down the chain of command,” he said.
