Jacqui Heinrich, a Fox News White House correspondent, rapid fired intense questions at press secretary Jen Psaki concerning the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the various reports that indicate that members of the Russian military have been utilizing illegal ordnance throughout the course of the invasion.
“There are reports of illegal cluster bombs and vacuum bombs being used by the Russians. If that’s true, what is the next step of this administration and is there a red line for how much violence will be tolerated against civilians — in this manner — that’s illegal and potentially a war crime?” claimed Heinrich.
WATCH:
JACQUI TIME: "There are reports of illegal cluster bombs & vacuum bombs being used by the Russians. If that's true, what is the next step of this administration & is there a red line for how much violence will be tolerated…that's illegal &…a war crime?" pic.twitter.com/MacUKzvHhu
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 28, 2022
Psaki, in her true fashion, did not answer any of the questions directly in regards to whether or not there was a hard line about civilian casualties or the use of outlawed bombs, however, she did go on to confirm that she had in fact seen the same reports that the media spoke of.
“It would be — I don’t have any confirmation of that, we’ve seen the reports, if that were true, it would potentially be a war crime,” stated Psaki. She then continued on to state that there were international entities in place to identify what, or was not, a war crime and how the people of NATO should go on, adding that in this specific case, the United States would seek to be part of the determining body in regards to any decision making conversations going forward.
Heinrich went on to question Psaki about potential aid headed over to Ukraine, putting forth questions as to why it did not include a shipment of Stinger missiles, which was an armament that was requested by name from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and why it was going to take so long to get these supplies to where they are needed.
Psaki disregarded the first question offhandedly, stating that she was “not going to get into specifics” in regards to what was or was not part of the military aid shipments that were in route to Ukraine.
.@JacquiHeinrich: "You mentioned that this next batch [of aid] is going to be coming in the next few days. Why so long? I mean, days doesn't sound like a long time to us, but…"
Psaki: "The package that we already announced continues to be delivered." pic.twitter.com/NWP5mB8Uhu
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 28, 2022
“You mentioned that this next batch [of aid] is going to be coming in the next few days. Why so long? I mean, days doesn’t sound like a long time to us, but…” Heinrich continued to ask.
“The package that we already announced continues to be delivered,” answered Psaki, going on to add that the timeline had been sped up in order to make sure that the aid packages arrived to exactly where they were intended to go in a quick manner.
Along with the aid packages, Zelensky put out the call for help from the United States and various other allies in the creation and enforcement of a “no-fly zone” over Ukrainian airspace, which is a move that Zelensky stated would allow Ukraine to finally throw back the Russian invasion forces with much-lowered bloodshed.