Ukraine’s ombudsman for documenting war crimes has collected “dozens” of videos showing executions by Russian forces

Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament's Commissioner for Human Rights, received several dozen videos of the public execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian invaders.

He told Ukrainian Pravda in an interview that he collected them over nine months after his taking office. 

"These [videos] include beheading, cutting off the genitals, ears, nose, limbs, and phalanges on the hands — various videos publicly recorded by Russian military personnel," Lubinets said.

According to him, some of these criminals have already been identified, and one has already died during a battle with Ukrainian defenders.

Lubinets believes that the enemy publishes such videos on purpose for several reasons. First, Russia wants to maintain the degree of anti-Ukrainian hysteria and demonstrate to the Russians how they kill a neighboring country's residents because "Ukrainians are not people" for them.

The second reason is to motivate their soldiers not to surrender and for them to believe that the Ukrainian forces would do the same to them.

"They want to bind their servicemen in blood because they understand this is a direct crime. That's it. There is no way around it," he added.

The ombudsman assumed that Russia was trying to intimidate Ukrainian soldiers so that they did not advance, for them to be afraid that they would be beheaded in captivity.

"Perhaps, they think, this can stop us. On the contrary, I think it motivates all Ukrainian service members to liberate our cities and territories and return our heroes who are in captivity even faster," he added.

Lubinets also emphasized that the Russian Federation is again demonstrating it lives in the Middle Ages and does not recognize international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. The Russians do not hesitate to distribute videos where they kill unarmed people, considered prisoners of war by all canons.