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.

Advertisement

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

Zelensky: November-December Sees Record Russian Losses in Combat
Other Topics of Interest

Zelensky: November-December Sees Record Russian Losses in Combat

The Ukrainian military regularly reports that Russian forces are resorting to ‘meat assaults,’ sending wounded or poorly trained fighters into battle as cannon fodder.

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.   

Advertisement

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.

To suggest a correction or clarification, write to us here
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter