Blinken: Intentional targeting of civilians, journalists ‘would constitute a war crime’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview aired on Wednesday that the United States is looking into whether Russia is “intentionally targeting civilians, journalists, anyone else,” saying that it would constitute a “war crime” if Russia was deliberately doing so.

In an interview with NPR, Blinken noted journalists in Ukraine who have been killed and injured this week during the Russian invasion.

“We’re also seeing journalists in the crossfire, people doing their jobs to bring the truth to the world. We’ve seen a Fox team that was — had two of its members killed, one injured, someone I know very well,” Blinken said, according to a transcript from the State Department. “This is Ben Hall. He’s someone who travels with me when I travel around the world, someone I have great affection for, who’s a tremendous reporter who asks me a lot of tough questions every place we go.”

“I’m very much hoping and praying that he’ll be back on the job as soon as possible, but meanwhile two of his colleagues lost their lives in this attack, and another very prominent filmmaker lost his life just the other day,” he added. 

NPR’s Steve Inskeep asked Blinken if he had reason to believe that Russia was targeting journalists.

“We are looking very hard at the targeting that the Russian forces are doing, including whether they are deliberately, intentionally targeting civilians, journalists, anyone else. This is something we’re looking hard at, we’re documenting. Others are looking at this. The deliberate targeting of civilians, journalists, and others would constitute a war crime. So it’s something that we’re very focused on,” he answered.

A Ukrainian journalist who had been working for Fox News as a freelance consultant and a Fox News cameraman were both killed while covering the conflict. Hall, who is a Fox News correspondent, was also injured.

Though Vice President Harris said last week that “any intentional attack or targeting of civilians is a war crime. Period,” Biden has yet to state that as such.

In a briefing with reporters last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said a “legal review process” needed to be conducted before officials labeled something a “war crime.”

“Let me say the bombing of a maternity hospital is horrific. It’s barbaric,” Psaki said following reporting of a children’s hospital that had been struck. “I don’t think anybody who saw that could not have been, emotionally, deeply impacted. There’s a legal review process that the United States undergoes to make considerations of labeling something as a war crime.” 

“That is the ongoing process that is — we’re pursuing at this point in time, it’s ongoing,” she added. “Obviously, if Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime, but we need to go through the legal assessment and review in order to make a formal conclusion.” 

On Tuesday, a non-binding resolution was passed in the Senate in support of a war crimes investigation into Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden administration officials have also said they would be supportive of a war crimes probe.