• Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby got emotional while talking about Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
  • Kirby told reporters on Friday that it's "hard to look at" what Putin's forces are doing.
  • The US, and much of the West, accused Russian forces of war crimes and crimes against humanity.  

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby got emotional on Friday while speaking about the "depravity" of the atrocities that Russian forces are committing during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"It's hard to look at what [Russian President Vladimir Putin is] doing in Ukraine — what his forces are doing in Ukraine — and think that any ethical, moral, individual could justify that," Kirby said during a briefing after a reporter asked if he thought Putin is a rational actor. 

Kirby then chokes up and pauses for a few moments, before softly apologizing. 

"It's difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious mature leader would do that," Kirby said.

He added: "I can't talk to his psychology, but I think we can all speak to his depravity."

 

The US and much of the West have harshly criticized Russia and accused Putin's forces of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and various atrocities in Ukraine.

After Russian forces failed to capture Kyiv and withdrew from the surrounding region in late March, Ukrainian forces discovered mass civilian killings in areas that were under Russian occupation for weeks. 

Ukraine has also accused Russian troops of committing war crimes in the bombarded southern port city of Mariupol. 

The International Criminal Court — along with Ukraine, the UK, and other states — is investigating war-crime allegations against Russian troops. 

"Evidence is being very carefully collected for the future trial — tribunals — because there is hardly any war crime that was not committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine," Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine's defense minister, said earlier this week. 

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