美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯周四表示，他个人认为战争罪已经被在乌克兰犯下在乔·拜登总统的第二天有标签的自普京发动入侵以来，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京首次被认定为“战犯”。

“昨天，拜登总统表示，在他看来，乌克兰已经犯下了战争罪。我个人同意，”布林肯说。“故意以平民为目标是一种战争罪行。在过去几周的所有破坏之后，我很难得出俄罗斯人正在做其他事情的结论。”

在美国正式将普京的行为定为战争罪之前，布林肯表示，来自全球刑事司法办公室的国务院专家正在记录和评估证据，以作出正式决定，并将与负责问责的人分享调查结果。但他承认有报道称，有人蓄意袭击，从轰炸一家儿童剧院到向排队买面包的人开枪。

索尔·勒布/普尔/法新社

在圣彼得堡，美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯就乌克兰战争对媒体发表讲话...

他说，“这些事件是乌克兰各地针对非军事平民地点的一长串袭击中的一个，包括公寓楼、公共广场，以及上周马里乌波尔的一家妇产医院。”"我怀疑我们当中任何一个看过这些照片的人都不会忘记."

就在布林肯站出来发表讲话的前一刻，一名国务院官员向美国广播公司证实，周四，一名美国公民在乌克兰丧生，此前切尔尼戈夫地区警方报告称，一名美国人在乌克兰被俄罗斯炮击身亡。两名美国记者，一名电影制作人和一名福克斯新闻频道摄影师，也在本周报道战争时遇害。

布林肯在谈到普京时说:“无论如何，这场侵略战争必须要有个交代。”。

但布林肯警告说，更多的黑暗即将到来——俄罗斯再次声称种族灭绝，使用化学或生物武器并指责乌克兰，派遣其“雇佣军”加入战斗，并有系统地绑架乌克兰官员，用木偶代替他们——他称之为“恐怖战术”

虽然乌克兰官员一直在与俄罗斯官员进行会谈，但布林肯对这些会谈表示悲观，称他们没有看到俄罗斯通过外交手段结束战争的“任何有意义的努力”。他警告说，如果有的话，普京在周三的讲话中表示，他正在双倍下注。

“西方集体试图分裂我们的社会，”根据翻译，普京在对俄罗斯人的视频讲话中说。“对军事损失和制裁的社会经济影响进行投机，以挑起俄罗斯人民的叛乱。”

“但任何人，尤其是俄罗斯人民，都能够区分真正的爱国者与混蛋和叛徒，并将‘把他们吐出来’”，他继续说道。“我确信，这种必要而自然的社会自我净化只会加强我们的国家、我们的团结和统一，以及我们响应任何行动号召的意愿。”

据俄罗斯官方媒体报道，克里姆林宫的一名发言人周三表示，“我们认为国家元首的这种言论是不可接受和不可原谅的，他的炸弹在世界各地杀害了成千上万的人。”之后，白宫驳回了克里姆林宫对拜登称普京为战犯的批评

普萨基在回答记者的提问时说:“来自一个在国际社会眼中其行为不可原谅的国家，这是非常富有的。”

随着数千人逃离暴力，拜登周三宣布，美国将向乌克兰提供8亿美元的额外安全援助，使过去一周的援助总额达到10亿美元。但乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)的核心要求——在乌克兰上空设立禁飞区——没有得到批准。然而，他周三在国会提出了一个替代方案:S-300，这是一种苏联时代的导弹系统，非常适合防御俄罗斯的攻击。

根据他的要求，北约盟国斯洛伐克表示，它“愿意”提供替代品——只要北约填补其唯一的防空系统将在斯洛伐克造成的缺口。

斯洛伐克国防部长雅罗斯拉夫·纳德(Jaroslav Nad)周四在布拉迪斯拉发与国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀(Lloyd Austin)举行的联合新闻发布会上说:“当我们决定将它交给乌克兰人时，会立即发生的事情是，我们实际上在北约制造了一个缺口——安全缺口。”。“如果我们有一个合适的替代品，或者我们有能力保证一段时间，那么我们将愿意讨论S-300系统的未来。”

但是目前还不清楚是否已经向斯洛伐克做出保证，以便将该系统运往乌克兰。拥有S-300的三个北约国家是斯洛伐克、保加利亚和希腊。

尽管泽伦斯基提出请求，但美国重申不会支持禁飞区，奥斯汀也解释了这一决定，并呼吁普京停止对乌克兰平民的袭击。

“实施禁飞区实际上意味着你在战斗。你是在和俄罗斯打仗，”奥斯汀说。“所以，从美国的角度来看，我们的立场仍然是，我们不会这样做，”他补充说。

当被直接问及俄罗斯对乌克兰平民的袭击是否构成战争罪时，奥斯汀没有像拜登和布林肯那样说，他说国务院目前正在审查平民袭击的报告。

奥斯汀说:“如果你故意袭击平民，故意以平民为目标，那就不是犯罪。”“所以，我们的国务院正在审查这些行动，当然，将会有一个审查所有这些行动的过程。”

出于对中国可能向俄罗斯提供军事装备的担忧，拜登定于周五与中国习近平主席举行会谈。下周，他还将前往布鲁塞尔会见北约领导人，以示团结。

当天早些时候，拜登欢迎爱尔兰总理迈克尔·马丁(Michael Martin)在椭圆形办公室举行虚拟双边会议，并表示，随着俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争继续进行，两国领导人“在世界团结的需求真正加速的时刻会面”。

拜登说:“我们必须团结一致，我们确实团结一致。”。“但普京的残暴和他的所作所为，以及他的军队在乌克兰的所作所为，都是不人道的。”

总理回应了拜登对普京“不公正和不道德的战争”的观点，称“我与你分享我们对平民遭受野蛮袭击的恐惧”，并表示拜登在这一过程中的领导是“坚定的”、“坚定的”和“强大的”。

“特别是你召集志同道合的民主国家的能力，美国、欧盟、英国、其他国家——加拿大和其他志同道合的民主国家正以前所未有的方式共同应对这场针对乌克兰妇女和儿童的野蛮袭击。”

Echoing Biden, Blinken says he believes Russia committing 'war crimes' in Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that he personally believes war crimes have beencommitted in Ukraine, a day after President Joe BidenlabeledRussian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" for the first time since Putin launched his invasion.

"Yesterday, President Biden said that in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in Ukraine. Personally, I agree," Blinken said. "Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. After all the destruction of the past few weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise."

Before the U.S. officially labels Putin's actions as war crimes, Blinken said State Department experts from the Office of Global Criminal Justice are documenting and evaluating evidence for a formal determination and will share the findings with those responsible for accountability. But he acknowledged reports on intentional attacks from the bombing of a Drama Theater housing children to opening fire at people waiting in line for bread.

"These incidents join a long list of attacks on civilian non-military locations across Ukraine, including apartment buildings, public squares, and last week, a maternity hospital in Mariupol," he said. "I doubt that any of us who saw those images will ever forget."

Just moments before Blinken stepped out to speak, a State Department official confirmed to ABC News that a U.S. citizen was killed Thursday in Ukraine after Chernihiv regional police reported an American was killed by Russian shelling there. Two American journalists, a filmmaker and a Fox News cameraperson, were also killed this week covering the war.

"There's going to have to be, one way or another, accountability for this war of aggression," Blinken said of Putin.

But Blinken warned of more darkness to come -- Russia making renewed claims of genocide, using chemical or biological weapons and blaming Ukraine, sending its "mercenaries" to join the fight, and systematically kidnapping Ukrainian officials and replacing them with puppets -- which he called a "terror tactic."

While Ukrainian officials have been engaged in talks with Russian counterparts, Blinken expressed pessimism about those talks -- saying they've not seen "any meaningful effort" by Russia to end the war through diplomacy. If anything, he warned, Putin indicated in his remarks Wednesday that he is doubling down.

"The collective West is attempting to splinter our society," Putin said in a video address to Russians, according to a translation. "Speculating on military losses, on socio-economic effects of sanctions, in order to provoke a people's rebellion in Russia."

"But any people, the Russian people especially, are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors, and will 'spit them out,'" he continued. "I am certain that this necessary and natural self-cleaning of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, togetherness, and our readiness to answer any calls to action."

The White House dismissed the Kremlin's criticism of Biden for calling Putin a war criminal after a Kremlin spokesperson said Wednesday, according to Russian state media, "We consider unacceptable and unforgivable such rhetoric of the head of state, whose bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world."

Psaki, answering a reporter's question, said, "It's pretty rich coming from a country where -- whose actions are unforgivable, in the eyes of the world -- global community."

As thousands flee the violence, Biden announced Wednesday the U.S. would provide Ukraine with $800 million in additional security assistance, bringing the total in aid over the past week to $1 billion. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's central request -- for a no-fly zone over Ukraine -- has not been granted. However, he did offer an alternative before Congress on Wednesday: S-300s, a Soviet-era missile system that are well-suited to to defend against Russian attacks.

Following his request, NATO ally Slovakia said it's "willing to" provide the replacements -- as long as NATO fills the gap that providing its only air defense system will create in Slovakia.

"What would happen immediately when we decided to give it to Ukrainians is that we actually create a gap a security gap in NATO," said Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad' Thursday, at a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Bratislava. "Should there be a situation that we have a proper replacement or that we have a capability guaranteed for a certain period of time, then we will be willing to discuss the future of S-300 system."

But it's unclear if a guarantee has been made yet to Slovakia in order to get the systems to Ukraine. The three NATO countries that have S-300s are Slovakia, Bulgaria and Greece.

As the U.S. reaffirms it would not support a no-fly zone, despite Zelenskyy's pleas, Austin also explained the decision and called on Putin to cease attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

"Enforcing a no-fly zone actually means that you're in combat. You're in a fight with Russia," said Austin. "So, from a U.S. perspective, we're, again, our position remains that we're not going to do one," he added.

Asked directly if Russia's attacks against civilians in Ukraine constitute a war crime, Austin did not go as far as Biden and Blinken and said that the State Department is currently reviewing the reports of civilian attacks.

"If you attack civilians on purpose, target civilians purposely, then that's not -- that is a crime," Austin said. "So, these actions are under review by our State Department, and, of course, there will be and there's a process that will go through to review all of this."

Amid concerns China could assist Russia with military equipment, Biden is scheduled to speak Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He will also travel to Brussels next week in a show of unity to meet with NATO leaders.

Earlier in the day, Biden welcomed Irish Taoiseach Michael Martin for a virtual bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and said the leaders were "meeting in a moment when demands on unity in the world are really accelerating," as Russia's war in Ukraine continues.

"We have to be united and we certainly are," Biden said. "But Putin's brutality and what he's doing, and his troops are doing in Ukraine is just inhumane."

The Taoiseach echoed Biden's view of Putin's "unjustifiable and immoral war," saying "I share with you our horror at the barbaric attack on the civilians," and said Biden's leadership through this has been "firm," "determined," and "strong."

"Particularly your capacity to marshal like-minded democracies, the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom, the other -- Canada and other like-minded democracies are coming together to respond in an unprecedented way to this barbaric attack on the women and children of Ukraine."