Andrea Shalal, Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States will sanction Russian officials and banks with a “sweeping” package of sanctions Wednesday. This follows accusations by Washington and Kyiv that Moscow has committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Jen Psaki (White House press secretary) stated that new sanctions would impose further restrictions on Russian state-owned financial institutions, and will target Russian government officials as well as their families.

Psaki noted that around half of the world’s economy was made up of G7 members.

These measures “degrade key Russian state instruments, impose acute economic harm upon Russia, and hold the Russian kleptocracy responsible for funding and supporting (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s) war,” she stated.

Reports that sanctions were being applied to the Putin daughters are not confirmed by her.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department also announced new enforcement measures to stop and prosecute Russian criminal activity.

The grim images from Bucha, Ukraine show a mass grave with bodies shot at close range. This has prompted calls for more tough action against Moscow as well as an international investigation.

Antony Blinken (US Secretary of State) stated that the murders were part a Russian conspiracy to atrocity. Russia claims it has launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24th. It denies that civilians were targeted and says images showing the victims’ deaths are a staged “monstrous fabrication” by the West. Both Russia and the West did not provide evidence supporting these assertions.

According to a senior French official, the European Union will likely also impose additional sanctions Wednesday. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sberbank could be one of those banks.

Two European diplomats stated that the last package of sanctions will be released in coordinated fashion Wednesday.