Blinken Says U.S. Monitoring Deliberate Russian Attacks on Civilians: ‘Buses, Cars, Ambulances Being Shelled’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the U.S. is monitoring potential “deliberate” Russian attacks against Ukrainian civilians.
Ukraine has spent a week fending off a Russian invasion, as casualties have mounted on both sides.
While the death toll remains to be seen, civilian casualties have been reported as the world has seen Russia strike civilian buildings.
A Russian bomb targeted a TV tower in Kyiv yesterday, as similar attacks on non-military infrastructure were reported in Kharkiv.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Blinken commented on the potential that Russian forces are indiscriminately targeting civilians.
A reported added him, “Sir, do you think Russia is deliberately targeting civilians?”
“You said they’re hitting schools and hospitals,” the reported noted, before she again asked, “Are they doing it deliberately?”
Blinken, citing Russia’s history with regard to waging war, said the U.S. is closely monitoring the events on the ground.
“We have certainly seen in the past that one of Russia’s methods of war is to be absolutely brutal in trying to cow the citizenry of a given country,” he said. “And that includes, at the very least, indiscriminate targeting and potentially deliberate targeting as well.”
“We’re looking very closely at what’s happening in Ukraine right now, including what’s happening to civilians,” Blinken added. “We’re taking account of it, we’re documenting it, and we want to ensure, among other things, that there’s accountability for it.”
The question about deliberate attacks on civilians followed Blinken’s opening remarks, in which he said:
The assault continues by land, by air, by sea. And as I noted in my remarks at the U.N. Human right, just yesterday, Russian strikes are hitting schools, hospitals, residences. They’re destroying critical infrastructure which supplies millions of people across Ukraine with drinking water, with electricity, with gas to keep people from freezing to death. Buses, cars, ambulances being shelled.
Watch above, via CNN.
