Calls Grow To Name Russia A State Sponsor of Terror
Zelenskyy also denounces Thursday attack
Calls are mounting for the United States and the United Kingdom to name Russia as a state sponsor of terror for its campaign of killing civilians in Ukraine.
Russian forces have been indiscriminately targeting women, children and other civilian targets since their full-on invasion of the sovereign and democratic Ukraine began in February.
Indeed, it's gone as far as the Russian invasion being labeled as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
At least two analysts are asking that Russia be designated a state sponsor of terror following Thursday's attack in which cruise missiles hit the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.
Video footage and photographs from the city, which is far from frontlines, showed thick black smoke billowing out of a tall building after one of the deadliest single strikes on a civilian target since the invasion began.
“Cruise missiles hit two community facilities, houses were destroyed, a medical centre was destroyed, the cars and trams were on fire,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
"This is the act of Russian terror ... 20 people died as of now,” he added.
“Vinnitsia. 12 dead including one child. This can’t be happening. Russia must be immediately recognized as a terrorist state,” tweeted Maria Avdeeva, research director of the European Expert Association, a non-partisan and non-profit think tank.
In the United States, “State Sponsors of Terrorism” is a designation applied by the US State Department to countries which the department alleges to have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.”
As of 2021, the list consists of Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria. Countries formerly on the list were Iraq, Libya, South Yemen and Sudan.
Commenting on Avdeeva's post, author, podcaster and chair of urban warfare studies at the Madison Policy Forum, John Spencer tweeted, “Frustrating. What are countries like the U.S. and UK waiting on to designate Russia a state sponsor of terror?”
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