Russia-Ukraine war: Biden calls for war crimes trial following Bucha killings
US President Joe Biden on Monday said the horrors allegedly committed by Russian forces in Bucha, Ukraine, are a “war crime” and called for a trial to take place against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the US President did not tag the killings a “genocide” but said he was looking into additional sanctions against Russia.
According to Biden, the pictures coming from Bucha affirmed calling Putin a “war criminal,” adding, “but we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight and we have to get all the details so this can be an actual — have a war crime trial.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said later Monday that the US hasn’t yet seen evidence of “systematic” killings that would warrant designating what’s underway in Ukraine a genocide.
“Based on what we have seen so far — we have seen atrocities. We have seen war crimes. We have not seen a level of systemic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide,” Sullivan said during a White House press meeting.
However, the pictures from Bucha, Sullivan said, emphasize that “now is not the time for complacency,” stressing the importance of ongoing US support for Ukraine.
According to him, the administration is “working around the clock” to fulfill security assistance requests from Ukraine, detailing the US and allied response so far and hinting at forthcoming “additional military assistance in the coming days.”
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