Hillary Clinton Rallies The World To Stop Putin’s Massacre

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Hillary Clinton is pushing for further action against Vladimir Putin’s regime as violence in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of the country continues. Recent details from newly liberated areas around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have been particularly disturbing: dead civilians lined a roadway, corpses were found with hands tied, and before the Russians left a town where these atrocities took place, Bucha, they reportedly killed all men between the ages of 16 and 60 who remained there, targeting those who might participate in Ukraine’s defense. (It’s unclear whether that final detail has been confirmed by Ukrainian authorities, although it was shared by — among many others — former Ukrainian ambassador Olexander Scherba.) Asked on NBC’s Meet the Press this weekend by host Chuck Todd about whether she was concerned that interests on Ukraine’s side were “maybe holding back now” in responding to Russia’s recent invasion, Clinton replied as follows:

‘Well, no. Now I think we are really looking at this with our eyes wide open and seeing very clearly the threat that [Putin] poses not just to Ukraine, as we can watch every night on our news, but really to Europe, to democracy, and the global stability that we thought we were building in the last 20 years. So, Chuck, I really agree with both what Secretary Blinken said, that we’ve got to continue to keep the pressure on Putin and the Russian troops. We cannot, in any way, pause our efforts to support the Ukrainians. And I agree with Masha [Gessen] that we have to double down. There is more that can be done to increase pressure and stress, additional sanctions, more in the way of lethal aid. And now that there has been a pushback thanks to the brave Ukrainian military offensive action, there is time to resupply the Ukrainians so that they can continue to defend their country.’

Asked about Secretary of State Antony Blinken supposedly remarking that relief could come — under some hypothetical future circumstances — for Russia from the sanctions that have been imposed in connection to the violence in Ukraine, Clinton added as follows: “What I heard him say was that, really, we are going to support the Ukrainians, the people and the government of Ukraine, as they try to figure out what for them is the best way forward, and that I think is exactly the right position for the United States, Europe and the West and other countries to take… I would not allow Russia back into the organizations that it has been a part of.” Clinton cited the G20 group of nations as an example. She added that the “only way that we’re going to end the bloodshed and the terror that we’re seeing unleashed in Ukraine and protect Europe and democracy is to do everything we can to impose even greater costs on Putin. There are more banks that can be sanctioned and taken out of the so-called SWIFT relationship. There is an increasing call for doing more on gas and oil.” Watch Clinton’s remarks below: