Visiting Ukraine, US attorney general vows help to prosecute Russia for war crimes

US Attorney General Merrick Garland pledges during a visit to Ukraine to help prosecute war crimes committed since the Russian invasion in late February.

“I’m here to express the unwavering support of the United States for the people of Ukraine in the midst of the unprovoked and unjust Russian invasion,” Garland tells reporters after meeting with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova near the Polish-Ukrainian border.

“I’m here to continue our discussions, myself and the prosecutor general, of the actions that the United States is taking to assist the Ukrainian authorities in holding accountable those responsible for the atrocities or the war crimes that the entire world has seen,” he says in remarks broadcast on Fox News.

“The United States is sending an unmistakable message — there is no place to hide,” Garland says. “We and our partners will pursue every avenue available to ensure that those who are responsible for these atrocities are held accountable.”

Garland is stopping in Ukraine on his way to the US-EU ministerial meeting in Paris.

Nearly four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Kyiv says it has identified thousands of suspected war crimes cases.

Most notorious have been the allegations of wanton murder of scores of civilians in Bucha, just outside the Ukrainian capital.