Archive Photo Ansa
The Ukrainian government has promised “immediate investigations” after a video, whose authenticity has yet to be verified, was published on Telegram. You can see them filming what appear to be Ukrainian soldiers shooting what appear to be Russian prisoners in the knees, during an operation in the Kharkiv region. This is how the US television CNN reconstructed the story.
An image from video on Telegram of what appears to be Russian prisoners being held on their feet by men in Ukrainian uniforms, the government is launching an investigation Ansa
In the almost sixminute video, which the US broadcaster does not publish but only describes, the suspected Ukrainian soldiers claim to have captured a Russian reconnaissance group stationed in Olkhovka, a town near Kharkiv, about thirty kilometers from away from the Russian border.
Strong doubts remain about the correctness of the video: and some experts and debunkers on Twitter They also point out that the blood after the shooting isn’t where it should be, suggesting the prisoners may have been previously wounded. There are also doubts about the blue and white ribbons that would identify Ukrainian soldiers.
According to CNN, it is not clear which Ukrainian entity may have been involved. The soldiers appear to speak a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian with a Ukrainian accent.
“The government takes (this video, ed.) very seriously and there will be an immediate investigation. We are a European army and we do not mock our prisoners. If that were true, it would be totally unacceptable behavior,” said a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Oleksiy Arestovych.
Elsewhere Arestovych himself stated: “We treat prisoners according to the Geneva Convention, regardless of their personal emotional motivations.”
CNN has reached out to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry for comment. In response, the ministry sent CNN a statement from the Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Saluzhnyi. The statement did not directly refer to the incident, but said: “In order to discredit the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the enemy films and distributes staged videos showing alleged inhumane treatment of “Russian prisoners by “Ukrainian soldiers..
“I emphasize that the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other legitimate military formations strictly adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law,” Zaluzhnyi said. “I urge you to consider the realities of information and psychological warfare and only trust official sources.”
The video was published on a Telegram channel, so it’s difficult to verify its reliability and understand if it’s staged. American television CNN has announced that it has geolocated and verified the long video uploaded to Telegram on Saturday showing a successful attack by Ukrainian troops from the Azov Battalion, during which they took a number of Russian prisoners in a rapid attack on Olkhovka. also known as Wilchiwka.
The Kremlin described the images circulating on social media as evidence of torture and “monstrous images”.. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian investigators will investigate video circulating on social media that would show Ukrainian forces abusing captured Russian soldiers. Peskov said the video, which he described as “monstrous images,” must be legally assessed and those who took part in what he described as torture must be held accountable.
the Hacker collective Anonymous, on Twitter with the @YourAnonTv account, announced that he had hacked the Central Bank of Russia and obtained 35,000 files, including secret contracts. “They will be published in the next 48 hours,” he writes on Twitter. There is one among the documents of the Russian government, the Duma and the security services with orders to discredit the attitude of the Ukrainian armed forces towards prisoners of war.
Leaked document from Russia instructed to make propaganda videos to discredit Ukrainian armed forces’ attitude towards prisoners of war pic.twitter.com/OofICo21QQ
Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) March 28, 2022
There are currently no further details about the video: It should be remembered that the Russian propaganda narrative had already tried to brand this in recent days fake news all the journalistic work of Associated Press professionals Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka in Mariupol, in particular their photos after the bombing of the hospital.