President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted on Instagram to a video of the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner: “How easily these monsters kill. This video of the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war, the world must see it. It’s a video of Russia as it is,” he said. “It’s not an accident […] It happened already earlier. It was like that in Boutcha. Thousands of times,” he continued, referring to the kyiv suburbs that have become a symbol of atrocities attributed to the Russian military. “Prison sentences for murderers, court in the State of evil”, he added.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba denounced the “horrible video of the Russian military beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war” while believing that Russia was “worse than the Islamic State”, a jihadist organization which filmed the executions of its hostages, especially by decapitation. “Russian terrorists must be kicked out of Ukraine and the UN and held accountable for their crimes,” he said on Twitter.
A horrific video of Russian troops decapitating a Ukrainian prisoner of war is circulating online. It’s absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, is presiding over the UNSC. Russian terrorists must be kicked out of Ukraine and the UN and be held accountable for their crimes.
The video, one minute forty seconds of unbearable images, has been circulating since Tuesday. In it, a man in camouflage, his face masked, slits the neck of another man in uniform struggling on the ground, yelling “it hurts”. After a few seconds, the screaming stops and a man is heard behind the camera urging the executioner in Russian to “cut off the head” of the victim. The latter finishes his decapitation with a knife, and shows the severed head to the camera.
“Get it in the bag and send it to the commander,” said a voice in Russian. On camera, the victim’s waistcoat is also shown crossed out with the Ukrainian trident and a skull and crossbones. AFP was unable to immediately verify the authenticity of the video or where and when it may have been filmed.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar for her part indicated on Telegram that the authorities were doing “everything (their) possible to identify the deceased”. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has also opened an investigation into this “war crime”. “We will find those monsters. […] They will be punished, “said the head of the SBU, Vassyl Maliouk, in a press release.
The UN Human Rights Mission in Ukraine said it was “horrified” by the video. She also refers to a second video showing “the mutilated bodies, apparently of Ukrainian prisoners of war”, and therefore calls for “these incidents to be the subject of a real investigation and that the perpetrators be held accountable”. The European Union will hold “all perpetrators and accomplices of war crimes to account” in Ukraine, a spokeswoman for the head of European diplomacy said on Wednesday.
The EU has “no information on the veracity of the video”, but, “if confirmed, it is yet another stark reminder of the inhumane nature of Russian aggression”, claimed Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, during a daily press conference in Brussels.
The Kremlin called on Wednesday to verify the “authenticity” of the video. “These are, of course, horrific images,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “In the ‘fake’ world we live in, we have to make sure that this video is authentic,” he added.
Typically, Russian officials simply deny any involvement of Russian soldiers in war crimes and accuse Ukraine of orchestrating the scenes.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of mistreating prisoners amounting to war crimes. In early March, a video showing the alleged execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers caused shock in Ukraine.
In November, the Kremlin was outraged by two videos showing the alleged execution of a dozen Russian soldiers who had just surrendered to Ukrainian forces. In late March, the UN accused Ukrainian and Russian forces of committing summary executions of prisoners of war during the invasion. Russia also denies, despite corroborating evidence, the summary executions of civilians, in particular in Boutcha, near Kiev, a year ago.
Consult our file: War in Ukraine
