US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics”. Darrian Trainor/Getty Images, Alexei Nikolsky/Getty Images
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday said the US had received “very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians.”
The attacks would be considered a war crime, Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tupper.
Russian President Vladimir Putin initially stated that citizens would not be attacked.
The United States has received “very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians” in Ukraine by Russian forces, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday.
“We have seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks against civilians that would constitute a war crime. We’ve seen very credible reports of certain weapons being used,” Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tupper during an interview.
Sunday marks the 11th day of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Putin initially declared that his invasion of Ukraine would not target civilians, but since then the offensive has indiscriminately bombed several cities, hitting hospitals, apartment buildings and an orphanage.
The UK Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that the Russian offensive is targeting civilians to try to “break morale”.
“What we are doing right now is documenting all of this, bringing it all together, looking at and ensuring that people and relevant organizations and institutions are investigating whether war crimes have been or are being committed,” Blinken said. “They are very trustworthy and we document everything.”
Russian troops failed to honor a second planned ceasefire in Mariupol, delivering “heavy artillery fire” as civilians tried to flee along a designated safe route.
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