JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to global condemnation of the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
"You saw what happened in Bucha," Biden told reporters after landing in Washington from Delaware, where he was spending the weekend.
"This guarantees him, he is a war criminal," President Biden continued.
The discovery of mass graves and bound bodies shot at close range in Bucha, outside Kyiv, a city captured by Ukrainian forces from Russian troops, is likely to prompt the United States and Europe to impose additional sanctions on Moscow.
"We have to gather information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to continue fighting. And we have to get all the details so that this can become a reality, hold a war crimes trial," President Biden said.
The Kremlin vehemently denies accusations related to the killing of civilians, including in Bucha, where it says graves and bodies have been engineered by Ukraine to desecrate Russia.
Meanwhile, United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, the United States will seek information from four sources to establish war crimes cases: the United States and its allies, including intelligence services; Ukrainian observations on the ground; international organizations including the United Nations and interviews from global independent media.
He said the United States would build a case in the International Criminal Court (ICC) or elsewhere. Meanwhile, the United States is not a party to the ICC.
Russia's permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council means any accountability for war crimes could be blocked by Moscow in that body, Sullivan said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the killing a genocide in a speech from Bucha on Monday, as journalists entered the city and documented its destruction.
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US defense officials said the Pentagon could not independently confirm the atrocities. Sullivan said the United States had not seen evidence that the killings reached the level of genocide.
This is not the first time President Biden has labeled President Putin a war criminal, since he invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what Moscow called a "special operation."
The Kremlin believes that President Biden's label of war criminal has caused damage to Washington's relations with Moscow.
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