after they took over the city last week. at least ten people were killed by russian bombs as they stood in line for bread. let s go straight to senior international correspondent sam kiley reporting live from kyiv. so, sam, moments ago, we saw a pretty big shift here in washington. president biden now says that vladimir putin is a war criminal. how big of a deal is this for ukraine, the government specifically and the ukrainian people? reporter: i think to the ukrainian people, the ukrainian government, it s no big deal because what they want is immediate action rather than these rather nuanced diplomatic issues. so, for example, on a day we ve seen ten people killed in a bread queue, unknown numbers eventually killed in an attack against the theater in the southeast of the country in mariupol, these are actual crimes that have been committed
the north of us here, the last town, effectively, before the belarusian border, the first town that the russian invaders went through or around. that hasn t fallen toot russians, but it has fallen to the russian wrath. the regional governor said 53 people were killed. ten people were killed in a bread queue and we ve just learned learned, anderson, that at least one u.s. citizen is among the dead. we don t have any more information about that individual. the person has been identified, we understand, from the police authorities, and of course they re working on informing the next of kin and the u.s. authorities. but it just goes to show, here in this part of the north of the country, that whether you re in kyiv or in outlying towns, the bombardments continue, anderson. there s been shelling by russian forces of a town near kharkiv? reporter: yeah, there has.
but also worrying, because fundamentally, given the force of arms of the russians and their greater firepower, i don t see how the ukrainians are going to win this on the battlefield. and as a result, you re thinking in your head, this is going to be a bloodbath, this really is going to be a bloodbath. and that, sadly, is what we re seeing. there was a woman i saw in a bread queue and we were talking to her, and she said, we will fight the russians, even on our own. she must have been in her 50s, you know, heavy coat, keep out the winter chill, waiting in the queue, we approached her, we talked to her, and that was very much the attitude, even though we re on our own, we re going to fight, because this is our land, and this. it deserves to be saved.
how did you relate to them, what did they say to you? i was fascinated by their resolve, and it s that resolve and that backbone that i found very, very impressive. but also worrying, because fundamentally, given the force of arms of the russians and their greater firepower, i don t see how the ukrainians are going to win this on the battlefield. and as a result, you re thinking in your head, this is going to be a bloodbath, this really is going to be a bloodbath. and that, sadly, is what we re seeing. there was a woman i saw in a bread queue and we were talking to her, and she said, we will fight the russians, even on our own. she must have been in her 50s, you know, heavy coat, keep out the winter chill, waiting in the queue, we approached her, we talked to her, and that was very much
thinking in your head, this is going to be a bloodbath, this really is going to be a bloodbath. and that, sadly, is what we re seeing. there was a woman i saw in a bread queue and we were talking to her, and she said, we will fight the russians, even on our own. she must have been in her 50s, you know, heavy coat, keep out the winter chill, waiting in the queue, we approached her, we talked to her, and that was very much the attitude, even though we re on our own, we re going to fight, because this is our land, and this. it deserves to be saved. when you talk to people people like this woman in the queue and all the other dozens of people that you spoke to what were their attitudes to the west, to the way we responded to their plight? i think there was a general sense that the west would not