a reporter for fox news is in the
hospital after he was hurt covering the
war in ukraine
the network says benjamin hall who's a
state department correspondent was
injured outside of kiev fox news ceo
suzanne scott released a statement that
the network is working to find out more
information about his condition and what
happened
scott went on to write quote this is a
stark reminder for all journalists who
are putting their lives on the line
every day to deliver the news from a war
zone this comes a day after journalist
and filmmaker brent renaud died when he
and a colleague photographer juan
arredondo were shot
by russian soldiers in a suburb of kieva
redondo survived the attack
and is recovering from surgery
vladimir putin's brutal assault on
ukraine and apparent indiscriminate
attacks on civilians are now sparking
growing allegations of war crimes
hundreds of civilians have died since
the war began many in cities under siege
like marriott poll where the
international committee of the red cross
describes the situation
as
apocalyptic but the biden administration
has yet to officially declare those
russian attacks as war crimes joining us
now nbc news chief foreign affairs
correspondent and host of andrea
mitchell reports andrea mitchell with a
look at the allegations the evidence and
what's holding the white house back and
a warning
some of the images that we're about to
see are very graphic andrea what can you
tell us
yeah and this attack on journalists also
ben hall my colleague at the state
department are all wishing for his quick
recovery this is just another example of
what we're seeing is russian attacks uh
injuring or killing civilians
leveling apartment buildings most
western allies most of our allies have
declared them war crimes have asked for
the international criminal court to uh
to
investigate and to actually pursue war
crimes but the united states has not
declared them war crimes leading a lot
of people to ask what is the reason for
that
an air raid over cherny killing at least
47 people
rockets striking the center of kharkiv
and a preschool in northeastern ukraine
hit with illegal cluster bombs
ukrainian civilians including children
increasingly becoming the apparent
target of putin's forces and as the
world watches the death and destruction
allegations of war crimes are growing
louder
warning russia's leaders
he said you will definitely be
prosecuted for complicity and war crimes
the u.n reports that at least 636
civilians have already died since russia
invaded with the true toll sure to be
even higher
even those trying to flee finding death
on the road to safety
witnesses saying russian forces are
targeting civilians escaping through
humanitarian corridors
including this deadly incident in
europeans
outside key
under siege civilians are trapped in
mariopol
where russia shelled a maternity
hospital
killing three people including a young
girl
and now this pregnant woman and her
unborn child have died
they shoot to the civil cars that are
trying to escape from mariupol there is
350 000 people in mousetrap
russia has denied committing war crimes
instead claiming ukraine is staging
attacks and killing its own people
despite all evidence to the contrary
under decades of international law war
crimes are defined as intentionally
directing attacks at civilian
populations or indiscriminately
attacking civilians with civilian
objects like hospitals schools and
nuclear power plants the biden
administration supports investigating
and documenting potential war crimes
with the u.s ambassador to the u.n
acknowledging bluntly what the world can
see
they constitute war crimes they are
attacks on civilians that cannot be
justified by any
in in any way
whatsoever the international criminal
court has opened up an investigation
responding to requests from 39 countries
including france and the uk
for crimes against humanity and acts of
genocide what we have seen already from
vladimir putin's regime in the use of
the munitions in my view already fully
qualifies as a war crime punishing putin
will be difficult if not impossible the
international criminal court and the u.n
security council can take action against
war criminals but it is up to individual
countries to enforce convictions
and russia like the u.s does not
recognize the icc's authority russia can
also veto any u.n security council
action and the biden administration
wants to avoid labeling putin a war
criminal now to preserve the chance of
eventually negotiating with him for an
end to the war
so that is one of the reasons why the
u.s is so reluctant to call a spade a
spade uh they seem to want to preserve
that deniability for vladimir putin so
that maybe there could be some fruitful
negotiation down the road but it is
causing consternation and our allies
especially the the brits and others are
her closest allies are making it very
clear these are war crimes and there
needs to be accountability
yeah you know andrea though
again the bight administration others
have said you know it's it's one thing
for
a news host to to call these acts war
crimes uh one thing for an opinion
writer do that but if the united states
does that then vladimir putin is he not
in the position where
he sees his future is
being in a cage in the hague
next to milosevic
so
what does he have to lose he might as
well fight to the
death i i mean that is that is the
distinction you're exactly right the
point is is there anything that is going
to persuade him not to fight to the
death even
nothing is going to deter him now as
isolated as he is so that's been the
conclusion the assessment of all of our
intelligence analysts that's what we've
been briefed by our allies as well
nothing is going to stop him now that he
has launched this war and done it so
aggressively and no amount of sanctions
are going to slow him down he has to
just
be driven into defeat by the
extraordinary resistance of the people
of ukraine
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