Senate Foreign Relations chairman calls Russian shelling a war crime

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday said he believes Russian shelling in Ukraine is a war crime.

Menendez, during an interview on CNN, said the “indiscriminate shelling” of residential locations by Russia does not line up with what military exercises are supposed to look like.

“We see the indiscriminate shelling of residential buildings of hospitals. This is not what a military exercise is supposed to be. These are in essence, from my perspective, war crimes,” Menendez said.

“You don’t indiscriminately attack civilians, and when you have precision-guided missiles — the purpose of them is to avoid civilian targets while attacking the target you’re looking for — they’re using their missiles against entities like we recently saw on your channel,” he added.

Russia’s invasion stretched into its sixth day on Tuesday, as forces pressed closer to Kyiv. Heavy shelling was also reported in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine.

Shelling destroyed a Ukrainian hospital building in Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to a Telegram posted by the Ukrainian Parliament. Additionally, U.S. officials have said Russia is taking aim at school and residential buildings, but Moscow has denied targeting civilians during its attack.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan announced on Monday that he will open an investigation into the situation in Ukraine. He said “there is a reasonable basis to proceed with opening an investigation,” pointing to potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“In particular, I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine in relation to the events already assessed during the preliminary examination by the Office,” Khan wrote.

On Monday, Ukraine and its allies called for a United Nations probe of potential war crimes carried out by Russia, according to Reuters.

If a draft resolution is adopted, a group of three independent experts will look into claims that Russia has breached international law in Crimea and in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014, as well as in other parts of Ukraine since Russia launched a military operation in the country last week, according to the news service.