Creating false narratives of genocide to justify greater use of military force is a tactic that Russia has used before, including in Georgia. Such a statement made the US Secretary of State.

“Russia continues to attack civilian sites, including – this week alone – a hospital, three schools, a boarding school for visually impaired kids in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. Yesterday Russian forces bombed a theater in Mariupol, where hundreds of people had been taking shelter.

The word “children” had been written in Russian in giant white letters on the pavement outside the building, so that you could know from the air that there were children inside. Russian forces also opened fire on 10 civilians in who were waiting in line for bread. These incidents join a long list of attacks on civilian – not military – locations across Ukraine, including apartment buildings, public squares, and, last week, a maternity hospital in Mariupol. I doubt that any of us who saw those images will ever forget them.

We’ve seen Russia use similar tactics before in Grozny and Aleppo. They stepped up their bombardment with the goal of breaking the will of the people. Yesterday President Biden said that, in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in Ukraine. Personally, I agree. Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.

After all the destruction of the past three weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise. The consequences of Moscow’s war are being felt around the world – in rising food costs, concerns about fuel supplies, more broadly in worries about how this war will affect the global economy and the fight against COVID-19. These are serious issues that the global community urgently needs to address. This war is making that much more difficult.

In this way, Russia’s actions are having an impact on every person on the planet, wherever they live.

A few weeks ago, just days before Russia’s invasion began, I went to the United Nations Security Council to lay out what we believed was about to happen. Again today, we have a strong sense of what Russia could do next. We believe that Moscow may be setting the stage to use a chemical weapon, and then falsely blame Ukraine to justify escalating its attacks on the Ukrainian people.

Manufacturing events and creating false narratives of genocide to justify greater use of military force is a tactic that Russia has used before, including in Georgia. We believe Russia will bring its mercenaries from private military groups and foreign countries to Ukraine.

President Putin acknowledged as much over the weekend when he authorized the recruitment of additional forces from the Middle East and elsewhere – another indication that his war effort is not going as he hoped it would. They are also likely to systematically kidnap local officials and replace them with puppets. Again, this has already begun.

After devastating Ukrainian cities, Moscow may bring in officials from Russia to serve as local government officials, and surge what they describe as “economic support” in an attempt to make the people dependent on Moscow for survival. Again, something that Russia did in Georgia. President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is not going to plan. The Ukrainian people haven’t welcomed the Russian military. They haven’t submitted. On the contrary. They’re fighting with extraordinary courage to protect their homes, their families, their country”, - said Antony Blinken.