warsaw.- US Vice President Kamala Harris called on Thursday to investigate Russia for war crimes in Ukraine, including the bombing of civilians and a maternity hospital.
At a news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, where he went to demonstrate US support for members of NATO’s eastern flank, Harris expressed outrage at the bombing of a maternity hospital and the scenes of women bloodied pregnant women, as well as other attacks on civilians. However, he did not directly accuse Russia of committing war crimes.
“There definitely needs to be an investigation and we all need to be vigilant,” Harris said, noting that the UN has already started a process to review the allegations. “I have no doubt that the eyes of the world are on this war and what Russia has done in terms of this aggression and these atrocities.”
For his part, Duda considered it “clear that the Russians are committing war crimes in Ukraine.” He added that in his opinion the invasion “has the characteristics of a genocide, its objective is to eliminate and destroy a nation.”
Harris praised the generosity of Poles in hosting nearly 1.5 million refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.
“I have been watching and reading about the work of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and for that I bring you the thanks of the American people,” Harris said during a previous meeting with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hours after the lower house of the US Congress passed a spending bill that includes $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine and its European allies.
The law includes $6.8 billion in aid to refugees.
In the next few hours, the vice president plans to meet with Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Poland since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Harris will travel to Bucharest on Friday to meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
