The Pentagon on Friday blew up the conduct of Russian troops in Ukraine: “It is very clear that Russian forces have committed war crimes,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a daily briefing. “There is no doubt about it.”
He cited the bombing of hospitals and “pregnant women killed” and called it “brutality of the coldest and most depraved kind”.
“We really worked under an assumption about it [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was able to pursue what he thought was Russia’s national interest with cold steel and with brutal determination, Kirby said. ‘I do not think we fully appreciated the extent to which he would engage in that kind of violence and cruelty, and which I said was corrupt, against innocent people, against non-combatants, against civilians, with such a total disregard for the lives he took . ‘
FILE – Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks at a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on April 11, 2022.
Kirby also criticized the Russian president’s stated motivation for the invasion.
“Let’s just call it what it is, his BS, that this is about Nazism and about protecting the Russians in Ukraine … when none of them, none of them were threatened by Ukraine,” he said.
At the same time, the US State Department expressed grief over the deaths of a US citizen and former US Marine who were killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces as Russia launched new attacks in eastern Ukraine.
“We are aware of these reports and are really ready to provide all possible consular assistance to the family,” said State Department Assistant Jalina Porter in a daily briefing. “But out of respect for the family during this very difficult time, we have nothing more to announce.”
Relatives: Former US Marines killed fighters in Ukraine
Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, worked for a private military construction company when he was killed on Monday, and is the first known American citizen to die during the fighting in Ukraine.
Porter also conveyed grief over the death of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty journalist Vira Hyrych.
“We express our sincere condolences to her family, as well as to her colleagues. The Kremlin’s war continues to wreak havoc on Ukraine and its people, with dire consequences for those who continue to stand up for justice and tell the truth about its brutality.”
Rescue workers discovered Hyrych’s body on Friday morning after a Russian air strike hit her apartment building in Kyiv the night before.
The news followed reports that two British volunteers who helped provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine had been detained by the Russian military at a checkpoint south of Zaporizhzhia.
The British non-profit Presidium Network said the two men, both civilians, were working independently as part of a project in Ukraine to provide food, medical supplies and evacuation assistance.
Dominik Byrne, co-founder of Presidium Network, said the men had disappeared on Monday after entering Russian territory where they planned to help evacuate a woman.
British Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Sky News: “The Foreign Office is doing everything it can to support and identify these two people.”
RFE / RL journalist dies in Russian airstrikes on Kyiv
Britain will deploy a team of war crimes experts to support Ukraine with investigations into Russian atrocities, Foreign Minister Liz Truss announced on Friday during a visit to The Hague.
In a meeting with the President of the International Criminal Court, Judge Piotr Hofmanski, she was expected to reaffirm Britain’s full support for the investigation and prosecution of war crimes and the use of sexual violence “not only in the conflict in Ukraine but around the world”. This is stated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release.
Ukraine is considering strikes against Russia
Russia fired two missiles into Kyiv on Thursday during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, an act which the Ukrainian president said was a deliberate attempt to humiliate the UN
“This says a lot about Russia’s true attitude towards global institutions, about the Russian authorities’ attempts to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents,” Zelenskyy said Friday in a video to the nation overnight. “Therefore, it requires a correspondingly powerful reaction.”
Ukraine’s presidential adviser said on Thursday that Ukraine should decide whether to attack Russian military installations.
Asked if this could escalate the conflict, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told VOA: “What we are talking about here is not an intention for Ukraine to invade Russia and try to take Russian territory, go after Russian civilians, go after Russian hospitals. We are talking about military goals.It’s something completely different.
NATO expansion
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Finland and Sweden to consider applying to join NATO’s military alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that if they choose to take that step, the process can be completed quickly.
– It is of course up to Finland and Sweden to decide whether they want to apply for NATO membership or not. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden would be welcomed with open arms to NATO, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.
Russia has expressed opposition to a future NATO membership for Finland and Sweden and says that if they join, Russia will deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea.
“This is basically about the right of every nation in Europe to decide its own future,” Stoltenberg said. “So when Russia tries to threaten, to scare Finland and Sweden from not applying, it just shows how Russia does not respect each nation’s fundamental right to choose its own path.”
VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and VOA State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some information came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Source: sn.dk
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