Topline
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday there was a plan from the “highest levels” of the Kremlin all the way up to Russian President Vladimir Putin to “brutalize” Ukrainian civilians, following growing accusations of Russian forces committing large-scale civilian attacks during the invasion of Ukraine.
A person is seen walking past a destroyed Russian tank in Borodyanka on Thursday.
Key Facts
Before the war began, U.S. intelligence found that the Russian government planned “to target civilians who oppose the invasion, to cause violence against them, to organize efforts to brutalize them in order to try to terrorize the population and subjugate it,” Sullivan said during a Sunday morning appearance on ABC’s This Week.
Sullivan clarified some atrocities may have been committed by Russian troops who were frustrated by the scale of Ukrainian resistance and acted without direct orders from above, but he said “the larger issue of broad scale war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine lies at the feet of the Kremlin and lies at the feet of the Russian president.”
Key Background
Sullivan referenced the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where Ukrainian authorities said withdrawing Russian troops systematically executed more than 300 civilians last week. The latest purported large-scale atrocity is a Russian missile strike on the Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 50 people, including five children. The U.S. has previously said atrocities in Ukraine were deliberate, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday what occurred in Bucha was not a “random act of a rogue unit,” but rather “a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities.” President Joe Biden has classified Putin as a “war criminal” previously and called Monday for the Russian leader to face prosecution. Russia has denied targeting civilians and insisted the killings in Bucha were staged, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
Tangent
Sullivan declined to label the Russian forces’ attacks on civilians as genocide when asked during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. Sullivan said “the label is less important” when condemning Russian atrocities, which he called “cruel and criminal and wrong and evil.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky labelled Russian actions in Ukraine as genocide last Sunday, but Biden and other Western leaders have largely avoided using the label, despite growing support for the genocide claims among experts. The State Department is conducting a legal analysis to determine if Russia’s conduct constitutes genocide, Sullivan said Sunday on ABC, but he said “legalities aside,” there’s evidence of “mass atrocities” and “war crimes.”
Further Reading
Death Toll Rises To At Least 50 After Russia Strikes Train Station In Eastern Ukraine, Official Says (Forbes)
Zelensky Accuses Russia Of Genocide As Allegations Of Civilian Killings Mount (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/04/10/plan-to-terrorize-ukrainian-civilians-came-from-highest-levels-of-russian-government-white-house-says/