The US accuses Russia of “debauchery and brutality” in Ukraine.
The US Department of Defense has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of acting “debauched” in his aggression in Ukraine.
Spokesman John Kirby became visibly emotional as he questioned how someone “morally” could justify the atrocities committed by Russia.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he was still open to peace talks with Putin. But he said there was a high risk that they “could collapse” amid Russian aggression.
Speaking to the media, Zelensky said he wanted to meet Putin because “he is the only man who decides everything” in Russia. But the devastation left by Russian forces in the occupied territories has made any discussion dim, he added.
Otherwise, on Thursday, Ukraine announced a search for 10 Russian soldiers charged with war crimes in Bucha – a suburb north of Kiev where at least 400 civilians were killed.
“I do not think we fully appreciated the extent to which Mr. Putin would cause that kind of violence and cruelty,” Kirby said on Friday.
He dismissed Putin’s stated excuses for the invasion – that he was defending Russians and Ukraine from Nazism – adding: “It’s hard to put that rhetoric into what he is actually doing inside Ukraine, to innocent people shot in the back of the head, with hands tied behind the back. “Pregnant women are being killed, hospitals are being bombed.”
And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published Saturday that more than a million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since the start of the aggression in February.
In addition, Russia confirmed on Friday that its military had carried out an air strike on the Ukrainian capital during a visit by the UN secretary-general.
Meanwhile, now more than two months after the start of the aggression, US President Joe Biden has asked Congress for $ 33 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine – a huge increase in US support for Ukraine.
And the UK also said it was deploying around 8,000 training troops across Eastern Europe in a show of the Western world’s determination against Russia’s continued aggression.