The United States has not determined that Wagner’s Russian private army is a “foreign terrorist organization” despite its ongoing activities in Ukraine, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

“I didn’t make that decision, and I don’t have anything to tell you about it,” Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing.

He added that the paramilitary group continues to try to take control of the city of Bakhmut in the east of Ukraine and continues to “throw many bodies of prisoners into this battle.”

In recent days, two videos have appeared on social networks, allegedly depicting beheaded Ukrainian soldiers. The footage shows a suspected captured Ukrainian serviceman being beheaded alive with a knife by another soldier believed to be Wagner’s mercenary.

On January 26, the United States officially recognized Wagner’s military company as a transnational criminal organization, freezing its American assets as a result of its actions in helping the Russian military in the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it has designated the Wagner Group as a “significant transnational criminal organization” as part of a crackdown on dozens of individuals and entities aimed at reducing Russia’s ability to sustain the war.

“PEC Wagner personnel engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abduction, and physical violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali,” the Treasury said in a statement.

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