Russian forces behead Ukrainian soldier in Donetsk region – Prosecutor General

The Russian commanders have instructed their soldiers not to capture Ukrainian service members but to instead behead them.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote about this on Facebook.

On June 17, the Ukrainian military was informed that a unit of the Russian army in the Volnovakha district of the Donetsk region had instructed their subordinates not to capture but behead Ukrainian soldiers.

While conducting aerial reconnaissance, the Ukrainian military came across a damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Defense Forces. On top of its hood was the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier.

"This terrible barbarism has no place in the 21st century. This is another proof that the war crimes committed by the aggressor are not isolated incidents but a planned strategy of the Russian regime. These criminal orders were given at the level of the battalion's leadership and the occupying forces' company," Kostin said.

The law enforcement officers have already started a pre-trial investigation on the fact of violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder – Part 2 of Art—438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The possible punishment is 10-15 years in prison or life imprisonment.

The Office of the Prosecutor General also emphasized that such actions are a gross violation of the articles of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, which concerns the protection of victims of international armed conflicts.

It should be noted that since March 2022, there have been 54 cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian occupiers.

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The Russian army has repeatedly violated the Geneva Conventions, laws, and customs of war by shooting prisoners of war from Ukraine. This has been documented in various incidents, such as in Avdiivka, near Robotyne, Bakhmut, and also in the Olenivka detention facility.

On February 18, the Russian service members 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.

The DeepState Telegram channel published a video showing a group of soldiers shooting two other soldiers who were coming out of the dugout, one of whom was holding his hands behind his head. The Russian occupiers committed another war crime on the Avdiivka front near Stepove.

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

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