US announces international team to investigate crimes in Ukraine

The United States announced Monday that it has joined an international team to document alleged war crimes committed by Russia in Ukrainebut he still avoids speaking of “genocide” in the case of the massacre of Buchaon the outskirts of kyiv.

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At a press conference, State Department spokesman Ned Price reported that a US team of prosecutors and experts is supporting the war crimes unit of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office in collecting evidence that will lead to Russia before the courts.

“USA. is supporting a multinational team of international prosecutors in the region to directly support the efforts of the (Ukrainian) Prosecutor General to collect, preserve and analyze evidence of atrocities, in pursuit of accountability,” he stated.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman clarified that the US team works from outside Ukraine, while the Pentagon completely ruled out sending troops to Ukrainian territory to collect evidence.

The United States made this announcement after learning of the Bucha massacre over the weekend, a municipality that was besieged by Russian troops for weeks and where, after their withdrawal, hundreds of corpses were discovered in its streets, some with their hands tied to the back.

Price assured that the United States has “credible reports” of torture, rape and executions against civilians allegedly perpetrated in areas dominated by Russian troops, and condemned Moscow’s “shameless denial” of these events.

JUDGE WAR CRIMES

For three weeks, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, has described his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as a “war criminal”, but he raised the tone this Monday by asking that he be tried for what happened in Bucha.

“We have to get all the details so that there can be a war crimes trial,” Biden said in remarks to the press at the White House, in which he called Putin a “brutal guy” and called what he said “outrageous.” has happened in that town northwest of the Ukrainian capital.

For now, the White House has not designed a strategy to bring Russia to justice, and intends to consult with its allies if going to the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the best option.

The United States is not a member of the ICC, based in The Hague, and has been critical of that international court in the past.

“Obviously, the ICC is a forum in which war crimes have been tried in the past, but there have also been examples of other mechanisms that have been created in other conflicts,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, at a press conference.

Despite the insistence on judging Russia’s “war crimes”, both Biden and his adviser avoided using the term “genocide” on Monday, which the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelensky, has used to refer to Bucha.

“We have seen atrocities, and we have seen war crimes. We have not yet seen a systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people that rises to the level of genocide. But that’s something we’ll continue to keep an eye on,” Sullivan said.

TURN IN WAR

All US agencies agree that the war, which began on February 24, has turned around with Moscow’s decision to relocate troops from the vicinity of kyiv.

According to Sullivan, Russia is “reviewing its objectives” and now plans to focus on the east – where the Donbas region is located – and part of southern Ukraine, rather than trying to invade the entire country.

“It is very likely that the next phase in this conflict will be a long one. We should not be deceived that Russia will adjust its tactics, which have included and are likely to continue to include brazen and senseless attacks on civilian targets,” he stated.

Along the same lines, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the majority of Russian tactical groups on the outskirts of kyiv have begun to relocate to other areas, thus “the threat of a Russian occupation of the capital has diminished.” , which was one of the main objectives of the Kremlin at the beginning of the invasion.

Source: Elcomercio

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