A video appeared on social media showing a soldier comes out of a shelter with hands raised and then lie down on the floor. He is followed by a second soldier who also lies down. Russian soldiers appear to open fire and the video cuts out.
“Today a video of the execution of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered by Russian soldiers appeared online! This is a Violation of the Geneva Conventions and disregard for the international law of war“Wrote Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets on Telegram. With this approach, Russia is “showing its terrorist face again and again,” Lubinets continued to post.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia has always denied having committed war crimes in the past.
The soldiers were unarmed
Portal was unable to verify the authenticity, date and location where the video was recorded. not independently verified. The AFP news agency was also unable to verify the location of the recording or its authenticity. According to Ukrainian prosecutors, the incident occurred in Pokrovsk District, part of Donetsk Oblast, near the disputed Avdiivka.
Lubinets emphasized that the affected Ukrainian soldiers I had no more weapons and raised their hands. “They posed no threat,” he said. The Russian opponents therefore took them prisoner and gave them Status of prisoners of war has to give.”
Not the first execution video
In March, another video quickly spread across the internet. It appeared to show a Ukrainian soldier being shot dead after shouting “Glory to Ukraine.”
UN Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said at the time that his office had documented several violations of international law committed by Ukrainian prisoners of war. These included “numerous summary executions and targeted attacks on “civilians” by Russian soldiers and allied armed groups, such as the Wagner mercenary force.
“621 cases of forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions” were also documented, Türk explained at the time.