Russian soldiers are responsible for a number of war crimes in Ukraine. But now Moscow accuses Kyiv of executing several prisoners of war. The Kremlin cites two videos as evidence.
Russia has accused Kyiv of executing several soldiers just as they were surrendering. The Russian Defense Ministry spoke in a statement about the “deliberate and methodical murder of more than ten tied up Russian soldiers” who were “shot in the head”.
The statements refer to two 30-second videos on online networks that purport to show the bodies of Russian soldiers who surrendered to Ukrainian soldiers and were then killed. The Ukrainian government has not yet commented on the recordings.
A video shows soldiers apparently surrendering to several men in camouflage clothing and yellow armbands. The suspected Russian soldiers step out of a building with their hands up and lie down on the ground. A person behind the camera can be heard shouting: “Officer, who is with you? Has everyone gone out? Come out!” The video stops abruptly as a gunman exits the building and gunshots are fired.
Whether the armed person is a Russian soldier and whether he really opens fire cannot be clarified beyond doubt. But if that were the case, it would be a violation of international law. Accordingly, feigning an intention to negotiate or to surrender under a parliamentary flag is prohibited.
Another video shows the bodies of about ten soldiers from a bird’s eye view, surrounded by pools of blood at head height. These are apparently the soldiers who had previously surrendered.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not say when the videos were taken. According to the RTL /ntv verification team, the videos show the same spot in the town of Makiivka in the Luhansk region and were recorded no later than November 12. The village of Makiivka was recently liberated by the Ukrainian army.
According to research by RTL/ntv, the drone footage of the dead soldiers was distributed online by the Ukrainian side a few days ago, with the information that the men had died as a result of Ukrainian mortar fire. However, this claim seems questionable due to the visible injuries in the head area, the arrangement of the bodies and the second video that has now appeared.
Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of mistreatment of prisoners of war. The UN released a report this week saying prisoners of war on both sides are being subjected to torture and ill-treatment.