WATCH: Secretary of State Antony Blinken says targeting civilians in Ukraine is a war crime

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says U.S. officials are in the process of evaluating and documenting potential war crimes committed by Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The statement to reporters on Thursday came one day after President Joe Biden called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.”

Watch the briefing in the player above.

Blinken says he believes the intentional targeting of civilians in Ukraine would amount to a war crime, and that there will be accountability and “massive consequences” for any war crimes determined to have occurred.

The U.S. and 44 other countries are working together to investigate possible violations and abuses, after the passage of a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a commission of inquiry. There is another probe by the International Criminal Court, an independent body based in the Netherlands.