Joe Biden’s presidential administration has formally concluded that Russia has committed crimes against humanity during its nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, US vice-president Kamala Harris said on Saturday, and pledged that those involved “will be held to account”.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference five days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Harris said: “In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt: these are crimes against humanity.”
“And I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes, and to their superiors who are complicit in those crimes – you will be held to account.”
In prepared remarks, Harris added that Russia had been “weakened” by the war. She said that the “transatlantic alliance is stronger than ever. And most importantly, the spirit of the Ukrainian people endures.”
The US vice-president remarks came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that members of Russia’s forces had “committed execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture of civilians in detention through beatings, electrocution, and mock executions; rape; and, alongside other Russian officials, have deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families”.
“These acts are not random or spontaneous; they are part of the Kremlin’s widespread and systematic attack against Ukraine’s civilian population,” Blinken added.
The official US determination of Russian war crimes, which came at the end of a legal and factual analysis led by the state department, carries no immediate consequences for the war itself or the western response.
But Washington hopes the determination could help further isolate the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and galvanise legal efforts to hold members of his government accountable through international courts and sanctions.
Harris’s speech came as senior western leaders met in Munich to assess Europe’s worst conflict since the second world war. The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, told the conference that holding Russia to account for its actions would be a part of “winning the peace”.
“We must see justice through the [international criminal court] for their sickening war crimes committed, whether in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol or beyond,” Sunak said, adding that the “treaties and agreements of the post-cold war era have failed Ukraine”.
The statements by international leaders and diplomats come as Russia is stepping up attacks in Ukraine’s east. Ukraine, too, is planning a spring counteroffensive, for which it is seeking more, heavier and longer-range weapons from its western allies.
Separately, Blinken met the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, before Saturday’s conference to discuss increased American support for the Ukraine-bordering nation, including to advance “its democratic reform agenda, strengthen its sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Sandu said Russia was conducting “hybrid warfare” against Moldova and aimed to “destabilise society” and “bring people into the streets to change the government and create a pro-Russian government”. Blinken said the US was alarmed by “some of the plotting that we’ve seen coming from Russia to try to destabilise the government”.
Signals from Washington that it is prepared to support prosecutions through the international criminal court are an advance on conclusions that the US, and a UN-mandated investigation, have already drawn: that Russian forces are guilty of war crimes.
Still, the Biden administration’s use of the term “crimes against humanity” implies a legal finding that acts from murder to rape are widespread, systematic and intentionally directed against civilians. Under international law, that is seen as a more serious offence.
The UN-backed commission of inquiry on Ukraine has not yet concluded that the war crimes it says it has identified amount to crimes against humanity.
In her remarks, Harris cited as “barbaric and inhumane” the scores of victims found in Bucha shortly after Russia’s invasion last February; the 9 March bombing of a Mariupol maternity hospital that killed three people, including a child; and the sexual assault of a four-year-old by a Russian soldier that was identified by the UN report.
“Let us all agree: on behalf of all the victims, known and unknown, justice must be served,” Harris said.
Organisations supported by the US Agency for International Development have documented more than 30,000 war crimes incidents since the invasion, according to the US government. Ukrainian officials said they were investigating the shelling of the city of Bakhmut this week as a possible war crime.
Russia, which says it is conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine to eliminate threats to its security and to protect Russian speakers, has denied intentionally targeting civilians or committing war crimes.
The Biden administration has sought to bring alleged war criminals to justice, including training Ukrainian investigators, imposing sanctions, blocking visas and hiking penalties under existing US war crimes laws. Washington is estimated to have spent $40m (£33m) on the efforts so far and says it is working with Congress to secure an additional $38m.
But the administration’s ability to enforce any such efforts beyond its borders – and certainly within Russia – is limited andcollecting evidence in Ukraine has proven difficult.
International legal bodies are also constrained. At the international criminal court, for instance, jurisdiction extends only to member states and states that have agreed to its jurisdiction, such as Ukraine but not Russia. Kyiv has been pushing for a new international war crimes organisation to focus on the Russian invasion, which Moscow has opposed.