State Department spokesman Ned Price spoke at a news conference on March 10 in Washington, DC. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Pool / AFP / Getty images)
The United States is supporting a multinational team to gather and analyze evidence of atrocities in Ukraine, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday.
“Currently, at the request of the Attorney General of Ukraine, the United States is supporting a multinational team of international prosecutors in the region to directly support the Attorney General’s war crimes department’s efforts to collect, store and analyze evidence of atrocities criminal liability, “Price said at a briefing at the State Department.
“Those responsible for the atrocities must be held accountable, as must those who ordered them. They cannot and will not act with impunity, “Price added.
Price also said that based on reports the United States had seen, the atrocities were “not an act of a rogue soldier” but rather “part of a larger, more alarming campaign.”
He noted that “while Russian forces have been withdrawing over the past few days, the world has been shocked by horrific images of the Kremlin’s brutality in Bucha and other cities near Kyiv. Civilians, many with their hands tied, apparently executed in the streets, others in mass graves. “
“We see credible reports of torture, rape and civilians executed along with their families,” he said. “There are reports and images of nightmarish litanies of atrocities, including reports of mines and mine traps left by Putin’s forces to further injure civilians and delay the stabilization and reconstruction of devastated communities after failing to achieve their goal. and withdrew.
“In line with its many years of trying to blame others for its heinous actions, the Kremlin has issued a groundless and shameless denial of what we can all clearly see in Bucha and the liberated cities of the Kiev region,” he said.
Background: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced on March 23 that the US government has found that members of the Russian armed forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine.
At the time, Beth Van Shaak, the ambassador for global criminal justice, said the US government “will continue to monitor reports from Ukraine of war crimes, and we will share this information with our friends and allies and with international and multilateral institutions, as appropriate. “
“It will be an ongoing process throughout this conflict,” she said.
Blinken reiterated this in an interview with the state of the CNN union on Sunday, saying: “We came out of the aggression and said we believe that Russian forces have committed war crimes and we are working to document this to provide information that we have the relevant institutions and organizations that will unite all this and there must be responsibility for that. “
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