Garland confirms US working with Ukraine on collecting evidence over possible war crimes

Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed on Thursday that the United States is working with Ukraine on collecting evidence regarding possible war crimes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion into its neighboring country.

“We have now been in contact with the prosecutor general of Ukraine, and we are assisting … they’ve collected a group of international allies to assist, and so we are helping in the collection of evidence and the preservation of evidence relating to possible war crimes,” Garland said during a press briefing.

The U.S. determined last month that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the assessment was based on “a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources.”

Earlier this month, Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, told CNN in an interview that her office was investigating 5,800 cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly carried out by Moscow. 

More than 500 suspects believed to been involved in starting and continuing the war have been identified by her office, she said, including Russian military leaders and politicians.

The development comes after former President Trump and President Biden have both accused Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine, though Biden has noted that the final determination of whether Moscow’s actions constitute genocide will be made by his lawyers. The U.S. has not made an official determination regarding genocide yet.

However, other countries have already recognized Russia’s actions as genocide, including the Latvian and Estonian parliaments, whose countries are both a part of NATO and the European Union.