HRW: Russian forces have executed over 20 Ukrainian soldiers since December 2023

The report of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), published on May 2, states that since the beginning of December last year, the Russian armed forces have most likely killed at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers who tried to surrender, and possibly more six who surrendered or had already surrendered.

The International Human Rights Organization's Human Rights Watch (HRW) report indicates this.

Human rights activists emphasize that all such incidents should be investigated as war crimes.

"Extrajudicial executions or killings of surrendered and wounded … is categorically prohibited by international law," said Belkis Wille, HRW's deputy crisis and conflict director.

Thus, HRW investigated three cases of apparent extrajudicial punishment of at least 12 service members of Ukraine's armed forces by checking and analyzing drone footage published on social networks on December 2 and 27, 2023, and on February 25, 2024.

Human rights defenders noted that:

"In these cases, the soldiers clearly demonstrated an intention to surrender and, because they were no longer engaged in hostilities, they could not be targets for using military force under international humanitarian law or the laws of war."

Based on the available video material, HRW managed to determine the places where two of the three executions took place; human rights defenders did not determine the location of the third execution due to the lack of any geographical details in the video.

The fourth case investigated by the organization concerns a video dated February 19, in which two Russian soldiers can be seen shooting three Ukrainian soldiers who were unarmed and surrendering. The user who shared this video mentioned the supposed location of the crime, but HRW could not confirm this information.

In the fifth case, the investigation was based on an interview with a Ukrainian military officer published on Telegram on February 18 and on media materials.

"According to the information received, it appears that six soldiers were executed during the incident, though the details surrounding the event are not entirely clear," the report says.

In one of the five incidents dated February 25, verified drone footage shows at least seven Ukrainian soldiers emerging from a dugout in the trees between two fields. They take off their body armor; at least one soldier takes off his helmet, and they all lie face down while five Russian servicemen point their guns at them.

"Then three Russian soldiers shoot in the direction of Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered, from behind and from both sides," HRW describes the situation.

It is emphasized that human rights defenders identified the employees of the Russian Federation by the red armbands they had on their hands and feet. Six Ukrainian soldiers are lying face down "reacting to gunfire," while one tries to return to the dugout but is shot before he can, the report said. According to the organization, the shooting took place in the area of the village of Ivanivske in the Donetsk region.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, in the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion, Russian military and Wagner mercenaries killed 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war. The report for February-July 2023 documented the extrajudicial execution of six more Ukrainian prisoners of war, as reminded by HRW. A later report, released in March 2024, highlighted the execution of at least 32 captured Ukrainian soldiers.

On April 22, HRW sent a letter to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu, asking him to comment on these cases and also to report whether the Russian military was ordered to kill Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered instead of taking them prisoner. No response was received to this request.

On April 9, Yuriy Bilousov, the head of the Department of Combating Crimes Committed in the Conditions of Armed Conflict at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, said that his department has information on 54 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were executed by the Russian military.

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It is worth noting that this is not the first instance in which the Russian army has violated the Geneva Conventions, war laws, and customs by shooting Ukrainian prisoners of war. Similar incidents have been documented in Avdiivka, near Robotyne, Bakhmut, and in the Olenivka prison.

On February 18, service members of the Russian Federation shot two Ukrainian prisoners of war in the area of responsibility of the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group of Forces.

In addition, on February 17, the commander of the operational and strategic group of troops "Tavria" Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, reported that during the withdrawal of Ukrainian units from Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region, some military personnel were captured by the Russians.

It's important to mention that the DeepState Telegram channel released a video showing a group of soldiers firing at two other soldiers emerging from a dugout, one of whom had their hands behind his head. The Russian occupiers have once again committed a war crime near Stepove on the Avdiivka front.

In his turn, the ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, reacted to the situation. He intends to appeal to international organizations regarding this video and hopes that intelligence will be able to identify the culprits physically.

Ukraine's armed forces also confirmed the information that the Russian invaders shot two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers.

At the beginning of April, the Russian occupiers shot Ukrainian prisoners of war in Krynky on the left bank of the Kherson region. A video of another Russian crime has appeared online.