Ukraine has vowed to investigate after graphic videos surfaced allegedly showing the horrific mistreatment of Russian prisoners of war, including some who were shot in the legs.
“The government takes this very seriously and there will be an immediate investigation,” senior presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Sunday, the Washington Examiner reported.
“We are a European army and we do not mock our prisoners. If this turns out to be true, then this is absolutely unacceptable behavior,” added Presidential Advisor Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A clip shows what appear to be Ukrainian troops removing three Russian soldiers from a van before seconds later the detainees are shot in the legs.
Another video shows the faces of injured and bloodied Russians after their hoods were removed.
The authenticity of the harrowing footage has not been independently verified, and the exact location where the videos were filmed was unclear.
“I would like to once again remind all our military, civilian and defense forces that prisoner abuse is a war crime that has no amnesty and no statute of limitations under military law,” Arestovych said.
Ukraine officials have announced they will launch an investigation into videos showing Russian prisoners of war being executed and ill-treated.
Senior Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said the government takes the video very seriously.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, accused Russia of “staging” the videos and warned the public to only trust “official sources”.
“In order to discredit the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the enemy films and distributes staging videos depicting the ‘Ukrainian military’ inhumane attitude towards ‘Russian prisoners,'” Zaluzhnyi said in a statement.
“I urge you to consider the realities of information and psychological warfare and to trust only official sources,” he added, claiming that “the enemy is producing inhumane treatment of alleged ‘Russian prisoners’ by ‘Ukrainian soldiers’ and participates in order to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Several videos show captured Russian soldiers bloodied and masked.
Russian officials said the video was gruesome and officially condemned the action.
However, reports indicate that the Russians seen in the clips were members of a reconnaissance team captured in the Kharkiv region.
On Sunday, a Russian official condemned the alleged brutality.
“Recordings surfaced on the Internet showing prisoners being treated extremely cruelly by Ukrainian nationalists. The video circulated on the Internet shows captured soldiers being shot in both legs and not being provided medical assistance,” said AI Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
The authenticity of the harrowing footage has not been independently verified, and the exact location where the videos were filmed was unclear.
A map showing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“According to some reports, illegal actions took place in one of the bases of Ukrainian nationalists in the Kharkiv region,” he added.