A video circulating on social media reportedly shows Russian soldiers shooting at close range at least two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).
Ukrainian military journalist Andriy Tsaplienko shared the footage on his Telegram channel, captioned: “Russian ba**ards shot at least two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Kursk region at close range.”
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Russian officials have not yet commented on the footage, while Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukraine’s parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, has condemned the incident, writing:
“Prisoners of war should always be protected, especially from acts of violence, but Russia has once again committed a war crime, which is a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law,” he wrote.
Lubinets added that he had sent a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN regarding the matter.
“The international community must respond immediately to this act of brutality to stop Russia’s aggression! How many more lives must be lost for the world to act?” Lubinets said. “Russia must be held accountable for every crime and every broken life.”
On Nov. 9, a separate video surfaced on Telegram showing Russian soldiers capturing a wounded Ukrainian serviceman. According to the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General, the unarmed soldier, lying on the ground, was shot at close range by the Russian military with an automatic weapon.
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The video, likely recorded by Russian personnel, shows the wounded soldier answering questions from his captors before being executed. He identifies himself as coming from the Sumy region and confirms he is alone before being shot.
Lubinets reacted to this incident, stating, “The occupiers have no limit to cynicism and cruelty!”
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has launched a pre-trial investigation into the killing, which is being treated as a war crime (Part 2, Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code).
On Nov. 6, Denys Lysenko, a representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office, announced that Ukraine is investigating 49 criminal cases related to the murders of 124 POWs.
Lysenko reported that executions of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered have escalated since late 2023, reaching “unprecedented proportions” in 2024.
The Donetsk region has seen the most executions of POWs, with 62 killed in 17 separate incidents, with executions also recorded in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions.
Earlier in October, three Ukrainian POWs were executed by Russian soldiers in the village of New York, in the Donetsk region. Drone footage captured the shooting, which was released by Ukraine’s 12th Special Purpose “Azov” Brigade.
Following this, one of the Russian soldiers involved in the execution was captured and interrogated. He said he had heard orders over the walkie-talkie instructing soldiers to kill captured POWs: “They said on the radio: ‘They took three? Zero them’.”
The captured Russian soldier also claimed that Russian forces execute their own troops who refuse to fight: “If a group doesn’t want to move forward, they issue a ‘red card,’ and another group follows to kill them.”
Reports from earlier in October also indicated that 16 Ukrainian POWs were executed by Russian troops in the Pokrovsk district of eastern Ukraine as they attempted to surrender. Video footage released on Oct. 1 shows Ukrainian soldiers emerging from a trench, only to be lined up and shot at close range by Russian forces. Those still alive were executed.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General described the Pokrovsk incident as the largest single recorded execution of Ukrainian POWs on the front lines, adding that it reflects a deliberate Russian policy of killing and torturing prisoners. The exact date of the incident is still under investigation.
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