The Biden administration made a clear effort to dial up the rhetoric against Vladimir Putin and Russia on Monday with stern condemnations of reported massacres of civilians in Ukraine and promises for more action against Russia.
After horrifying images of what appeared to be civilians who had been executed with their hands tied were shared in western media outlets over the weekend, the US State Department called the reports of massacres committed by Russian troops “credible” and suggested directly that they were the result of deliberate, ordered actions that Russian military forces were carrying out.
President Joe Biden started off the day with remarks about the situation to reporters at the White House and Fort McNair, where he reiterated his belief that Russian forces were committing war crimes.
“You may remember I got criticised for calling Putin a war criminal,” the president said on Monday morning. “Well, the truth of the matter – we saw it happen in Bucha – this warrants him – he is a war criminal.
“But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue to fight and we have to get all the detail so this could be – actual have a war crimes trial. This guy is brutal and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone’s seen it,” Mr Biden continued.
Ned Price, the principal State Department spokesman, expanded on Mr Biden’s comments later in the day with deliberate words inferring that the killings appeared to have been carried out at the direction of Russian military leaders and potentially Mr Putin himself.
“We are seeing credible reports of torture, rape, and civilians executed along with their families,” Mr Price said on Monday, calling the accusations of Russian war crimes “credible” and describing the images as “a nightmare litany of atrocities” committed by Russian forces.
Russia’s foreign ministry has strongly denied the accusations in statements over the weekend, which Mr Price dismissed at his daily briefing as “cynical” attempts to reject the reality of images and video evidence of the crimes.
Mr Price added that the acts appeared to be “not the act of a rogue soldier”, but “part of a broader, troubling campaign” committed by the Russian military.
He went on to say that the US was gathering evidence of Russian actions in the region and sharing what intelligence it could with international authorities. The president and others have indicated support for an investigation being spearheaded by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which could call for Mr Putin’s arrest on charges of war crimes.
The White House reiterated its position on Monday afternoon during a joint briefing with press secretary Jen Psaki and Jake Sullivan of the national security council. Mr Sullivan clarified that the US had seen evidence of “atrocities” and “war crimes” committed by Russian forces, but directly contradicted the assertion of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that Russia was engaged in genocide.
As of yet, the US could not support the assertion that the “level of systemic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people [rises] to the level of genocide”, Mr Sullivan said.
“Based on what we have so far, we have seen atrocities, we have seen war crimes,” added Ms Psaki.
Their comments, while aggressive, are likely aimed as much for US allies and trading partners around the world as they were meant for Moscow; the US continues to lead a campaign of global isolation against Russia’s economy and has vowed to retaliate against countries that aid Russia militarily or economically during its invasion of Ukraine. Some of those punitive measures were put in place against Belarus and members of its government in a previous sanctions package in retaliation for the country’s service as a staging ground for Russian forces.
Some European nations including Nato allies like Germany have refused to go as far as the US to cut economic ties with Russia, particularly on the issue of energy. Russia is a major supplier of oil and natural gas to much of Europe and some nations have been reluctant to cease business with Moscow in that sector even as the invasion slogs on into its second month.
The White House has promised that more sanctions targeting Russian officials and oligarchs are on the way, but refused as recently as Monday to offer any details on those plans.
