Borrell: Russia guilty of ‘massive war crimes’ in Mariupol

Brussels, Mar 21 (EFE).- The European Union’s foreign affairs chief on Monday accused Russia of committing “massive war crimes” in the besieged city of Mariupol and said the bloc was ready to discuss energy sanctions on Moscow.

“Russia is really doing a lot of war crimes. That is the word. We have to say that. What is happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything. Bombarding and killing everybody in an indiscriminate manner,” Josep Borrell told reporters ahead of a foreign affairs council in Brussels.

“This is something awful we have to condemn in stronger terms,” ​​he said of the situation in Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian forces for more than two weeks and is under heavy bombardment.

“The city will be completely destroyed and people are dying,” Borrell told reporters.

The EU’s top diplomat added that ministers had a long day ahead in which they would discuss further sanctions on Russia “especially related to energy.”

Borrell issued a warning to nations helping Russia saying they too could be targeted with sanctions.

He added that the EU would continue “supporting Ukraine with all our resources.”

Borrell is expected to meet with the Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov in a videoconference to address the current situation and discuss EU aid.

When asked about Russia’s alleged use of hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, Borrell said: “Yes, they are doing it.”

“Russia is using all its military capacity. The problem is it’s using all the military capacity against civilians. It is not a war, it is a massive destruction of a country without any kind of consideration for the law of war because war also has rules,” he said.

“It is very important to say that, legally, international courts have already condemned this invasion. Morally they (Russia) have lost any kind of ground because what they are doing is completely out of any kind of law that rules the war.”

EU foreign and defense Ministers are expected to approve the so-called Strategic Compass, the bloc’s defense and security strategy for the next 10 years.

Borrell told reporters the council had been working on the white paper for the last two years and that when they started the process they could not have imagined that at the time of approving the bill the situation would be so bad in Europe.

He added that the bloc would continue to provide support to Ukraine with a second tranche of the European peace support fund, from which the EU has already allocated 500 million euros to finance lethal and non-lethal military aid for Ukrainian.EFE

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