National security adviser Jake Sullivan punted on Sunday morning when CNN anchor Jake Tapper confronted him about the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine and whether the White House considers it genocide.
Following global outrage over reports of mass civilian executions in Bucha and Odessa, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Russia’s unprovoked war had escalated to “genocide” against the Ukrainian people. At the same time, the Biden administration has labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal but has stopped short of saying the war has become genocidal.
With the Russian military now bragging about killing dozens of fleeing Ukrainians at a Kramatorsk train station, Tapper kicked off his interview with Sullivan on Sunday’s State of the Union by asking if this latest strike amounts to war crimes, adding that Russia reportedly used banned cluster munitions.
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“It absolutely constitutes war crimes,” Sullivan replied. “In fact, President Biden was well out in front of most of the world in declaring that what Russia was doing and what Vladimir Putin was authorizing here were war crimes. We have seen that in Bucha and other parts of Ukraine.”
After noting that in addition to the horrors in Bucha the world has seen images of entire civilian neighborhoods wiped out, Tapper brought up the United Nations definition of genocide.
“Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group including ‘killing members of the group’ and ‘causing serious body or mental harm to members of the group,’” the veteran anchor said, quoting the U.N. “I understand this is up to authorities and there’s a process in place but, in your opinion, how is this not a genocide?”
“In my opinion, the label is less important than the fact that these acts are cruel and criminal and wrong and evil and need to be responded to decisively,” Sullivan deflected. “And that’s what we’re doing”
He continued: “We’re doing that not just by supporting international investigations and gathering evidence to hold the perpetrators all the way to the highest levels accountable. We’re doing it by providing sophisticated weapons to the Ukrainians that are making a major difference on the battlefield.”
Tapper, meanwhile, decided to ask Sullivan a “more theoretical question” while insisting that he’s “not advocating for any specific action one way or another” regarding the war in Ukraine.
“I do have to wonder how the international community, including the U.S., decides what kind of wholesale killing necessitates direct military intervention and what kind doesn’t,” the State of the Union host said. “Because every year on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I read these statements from world leaders that say ‘never again.’ What exactly are they saying never again to?”
Sullivan asserted that the United States is “not going to stand by while Russia does what it does” and that it has taken “unprecedented” steps to arm and equip the Ukrainians in their fight against Putin’s forces.
“And the size and impact of the sanctions on a major economy like Russia is likewise unprecedented,” he concluded. “So this is not a story of anyone standing by. We are taking aggressive action in an effort to both help the Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield and help the Ukrainians have the best possible position at the negotiating table. We will continue to do that.”
