EU denounces Russia’s 'barbaric & cowardly' missile attacks on Ukraine as ‘war crime’

The European Union denounced Russia for its “heinous attacks” on major Ukrainian cities on Monday, stating that the airstrikes on Ukraine’s civilian population “amounts to a war crime.” The missile attacks, according to European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano, were “barbaric and cowardly” and infringed global humanitarian law. 

“Indiscriminately targeting people in a cowardly, heinous hail of missiles on civilian targets is indeed a further escalation. The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms these heinous attacks on the civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Stano told the Commission's daily news briefing. “This is something which is against international humanitarian law and this indiscriminate targeting of civilians amounts to a war crime,” he added.

When questioned about Belarus’ decision to deploy its troops along Russian borders as a joint military operation, Stano said that the country must  “refrain” from extending help to Moscow in the war against Ukraine. “We don’t have the details (on the joint deployment) but if this proceeds, this will be yet another escalation” of the “illegal war” in Ukraine. Belarus’ actions will not be unanswered,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, also took to Twitter to condemn Russian strikes on Ukraine.

Russia's missile attacks condemned by global leaders

In wake of the missile attacks in which at least 11 people have lost their lives in Kyiv, Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš urged leaders of the European Union to put an end to all Russian tourist visas, reigniting discussions on stricter sanctions against Russia. In a conversation with The Guardian, Kariņš did not favour the idea of allowing Russians who were fleeing the draft to enter the EU and argued that it could result in a “potential huge immigration wave coming from Russia” which could pose a security threat to Europe. 

“I think the political dissenters have mostly already left. Then there will be economic opportunists, many, many other reasons and people with unknown loyalties,” Kariņš told the outlet. 

The airstrikes also sparked a response from NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who called the attacks “horrific and indiscriminate." "Spoke with Foreign Minister @DmytroKuleba & condemned #Russia's horrific & indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in #Ukraine. #NATO will continue supporting the brave Ukrainian people to fight back against the Kremlin's aggression for as long as it takes,” Stoltenberg wrote in a post on Twitter.