Ukrainian POWs Reportedly Stripped Naked, Shot in Russia’s Kursk Region

Russian troops have allegedly shot nine Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Russia’s Kursk region after they surrendered. 

Open-source intelligence DeepState, citing its own sources from Ukraine’s 1st Tank Brigade, reported the incident on Sunday in a Telegram announcement. 

It said the incident took place on Thursday, Oct. 10, when nine Ukrainian troops, some of them working as drone operators, came into contact with Russian troops after “thinking that they were in the relative rear,” who then surrendered and were subsequently shot. 

DeepState added a photo containing a map that indicates the location of the incident, as well as a top-down photo, presumably taken by a drone, of men lying naked on the ground in underwear.

DeepState added that “additional details of the circumstances are being clarified.”

Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, citing the DeepState report, called the alleged act “a gross violation of the Geneva Convention.”

“These actions must not go unpunished, and the enemy must bear full responsibility. Russia is a terrorist country that violates all the rules and customs of war. The international community should not turn a blind eye to such crimes!” Lubinets said in his Telegram announcement. 

Killing POWs constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention. 

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If this information is confirmed, it would be the first time such a weapon had been used since Russia invaded in February 2022.

It’s also unclear if the POWs were stripped of their clothes before or after the alleged shooting. While some militaries, such as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), have in the past stripped the clothes of surrendered combatants due to what it claimed to be concerns over hidden weapons and explosives, the act is also considered by human rights observers to be a move to humiliate adversaries.

While combatants are required to relinquish their equipment and weapons upon surrendering, stripping – especially in cases with underwear remaining as the only garment – is not a standard procedure during conflicts, with “humiliating and degrading treatment” also being considered a war crime.   

There have been numerous recorded cases of Russian troops executing unarmed Ukrainian POWs. 

On Oct. 6, the 12th Special Purpose Brigade released a video depicting a group of Russian soldiers executing three unarmed Ukrainian POWs in the village of New York in the Donetsk region.

In July, another video circulating on social media allegedly showed Russian troops shooting a group of Ukrainian POWs near the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia sector.