U.N. ambassador disturbed by reports of Russians seizing and deporting Ukrainians

Shayna Greene
·2 min read
2
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Saying she found the reports "disturbing," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday the Biden administration has yet to confirm reports that Russia is seizing Ukrainian citizens and shipping them into Russia.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said, “I've only heard it. I can't confirm it. But I can say it is disturbing.”

“It is unconscionable for Russia to force Ukrainian citizens into Russia and put them in what will basically be concentration and prisoner camps, so this is something that we need to verify. Russia should not be moving Ukrainian citizens against their will into Russia.”

CNN reported that several thousand residents of Ukrainian city Mariupol have been taken by Russian forces. On Saturday, more than 4,100 people, including 1,172 children, were evacuated from the city, which endured deathly strikes on a maternity ward and theater, among other attacks.

More than 2.6 million people have fled Ukraine as of March 15, according to POLITICO.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Thomas-Greenfield couldn’t “preview” what Ukraine’s possible negotiations with Russia would look like or how the United States would respond to them but she did say the U.S. supports the negotiating efforts being made by Ukraine.

Tapper also asked Thomas-Greenfield about the upcoming emergency NATO summit that President Joe Biden is attending and the peacekeeping mission Poland plans on proposing at the summit. Thomas-Greenfield reiterated Biden’s message that the U.S. will not be putting American troops on the ground.

“We don't want to escalate this into a war with the United States. But we will support our NATO allies. We have troops, as you know, in NATO countries, and the president has made clear that, if there's an attack on any NATO countries under Article 5, that we will support those countries and defend those countries.”

The ambassador also said she couldn’t “preview” the decisions that will be made at the NATO conference but that other NATO countries may decide whether or not they want to put troops in Ukraine.