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The Pentagon declared on Monday that Russian forces are clearly to blame for the crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, though it noted that it was still unclear which units were in the area.
At a press conference, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said, “I believe it’s fairly obvious, not just to us, but to the rest of the world.”
“I don’t believe we can tell who they are, what units they belong to, or whether they are Chechens or contractors at this time. However, we do not deny that these crimes were committed and that Russians were implicated in them.”
Instead, it has pushed troops and mercenaries into the country’s east in an escalating attempt to seize control of the Donbas, a predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region that contains Mariupol and has experienced some of the war’s most intense fighting and suffering.
According to a senior U.S. defence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, about two-thirds of the Russian troops in the Kyiv area have left and are either in Belarus or on their way there, where they will likely receive more supplies and reinforcements.
