Russia accused of war crimes: Video shows execution of Ukrainian POWs
The Russians executed two Ukrainian prisoners of war, reports CNN. The station published two videos. In one, three kneeling Ukrainian soldiers are seen, who fall to the ground a few seconds later. Another video shows soldiers lying face down, executed in May.
American station CNN published a video on Friday showing the execution of surrendering Ukrainian soldiers by Russian soldiers. The recording was made at the end of August near the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
In the video, received from Ukrainian military intelligence, three soldiers are seen walking to the middle of a dirt path and kneeling with their hands behind their heads. A few seconds later, they are lying motionless, face down.
"Russian barbarism is a disgrace to humanity"
The second execution allegedly occurred in May in the Robotyne area. The video shows Ukrainians emerging from trenches with their hands raised. They lie face down, and then, according to the video, a Russian soldier with the pseudonym "Turk" gives the order to shoot them.
"We are shocked by the horrifying footage showing how Russians cold-bloodedly kill surrendering Ukrainian soldiers. Russian barbarism is a disgrace to humanity," writes the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement. The Ministry calls on the world to condemn Russian war crimes.
A Ukrainian official, who requested some details be kept confidential to protect the identity of the unit, said the event corresponds to other alleged executions that have become increasingly frequent this year.
Sources in Ukrainian intelligence provided CNN with a list of 15 cases of alleged killings of surrendering Ukrainian soldiers by Russian soldiers. These events have occurred since November and are mostly supported by video or audio recordings.
The Ukrainian prosecutor general told CNN that his office is investigating 28 similar incidents that have occurred since the beginning of the war and in which 62 Ukrainian soldiers have died.
Executions are a Kremlin strategy
Russian forces are moving towards the strategic city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, despite recent territorial gains by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region in western Russia during an offensive aimed at forcing Moscow to redeploy some forces from Donbas to protect its own borders.
Ukrainian prosecutors told CNN that the alleged killings of prisoners constitute war crimes and are part of the Kremlin's strategy. "If prisoners surrender, if they show it, if they don't have weapons in their hands, then a mass execution constitutes a war crime," said Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin to CNN.
According to him, such crimes have occurred in various parts of Ukraine and have been carried out by different Russian units. "This policy is ordered by the Kremlin. These are orders from specific commanders," he said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
Executions "correspond to a specific pattern"
"The emergence of recordings showing this alleged increasingly common Russian tactic creates a dilemma for Ukrainian commanders, who face the unenviable task of warning their soldiers and the world about Russian barbarism, risking undermining the morale of Ukrainian soldiers," CNN writes.
A Ukrainian government official who provided the video from the Pokrovsk area said that the Ukrainian unit knew about similar cases on the front line that were not made public.
Several Russian soldiers have been accused in Ukraine of such killings, including in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south of the country.
A source in the UN team investigating illegal, mass, or arbitrary executions told CNN that they had also analyzed alleged executions of Ukrainian soldiers. "There are many of them. They correspond to a specific pattern. They indicate ease, if not orders, not to show mercy," said this source.
