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Anthony Blinken, US secretary of state, says there are “very credible reports of deliberate attacks” on civilians in Ukraine by Russian soldiers.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Blinken said the attacks would be considered a war crime.
Blinken said the US has begun the documentation of all available evidence to determine whether or not war crimes have been committed against Ukrainian civilians.
“What we’re doing right now is documenting all of this, putting it all together, looking at it and making sure that, as people and the appropriate organisations and institutions investigate whether war crimes have been or are being committed, that we can support whatever — whatever they’re doing,” he said.
“So, right now we’re looking at these reports. They’re very credible and we’re documenting everything.”
Karim Khan, an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, on Thursday, said he had opened an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
“I have notified the ICC Presidency a few moments ago of my decision to immediately proceed with active investigations in the situation. Our work in the collection of evidence has now commenced,” Khan had said.
As the war intensifies, there are growing fears that Russia’s President Vladmir Putin would at some point consider the nuclear option.
However, Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s former president, says the Russian military will not be willing to launch a nuclear attack if ordered to do so by Putin.
“In his rhetoric right now he uses the word nuclear threats abundantly,” Yushchenko had told ABC News.
“His occupation of Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear plants is his idea of being a macho man that he is so strong that he can exploit nuclear threats to achieve his goals.
“I do not think that we’ll find any people in the Russian military even as disorganised as it is or even any two officers who will be willing to turn the key to launch nuclear rockets toward Ukraine or anywhere else.”
