Russian war crimes: occupiers execute unarmed Ukrainian soldier using sword

The Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, has reported another war crime committed by the Russian occupiers: the merciless execution of an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war.

Ukraine's ombudsman wrote this on Telegram.

Lubinets reported that the Russian military staged a public execution of a Ukrainian soldier using a sword. The prisoner of war was killed while his hands were bound with tape, highlighting his vulnerable position.

Lubinets emphasized that this act of barbarism is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

"The level of barbarism and bloodthirstiness is unfathomable. The Russians executed an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war with a sword with his hands bound with tape. Another war crime by the Russian troops," Lubinets said.

In response to this crime, the ombudsman has already sent letters to international organizations, particularly the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN, with a call to record this gross violation of human rights and investigate the situation.

"I would like to emphasize separately that such show executions are aimed at demoralizing Ukrainian society. However, seeing such actions, we must become even more determined in the fight against the aggressor," the ombudsman added.

It is worth mentioning that on the morning of September 17, striking photos surfaced on social media featuring a Ukrainian soldier who had been executed. According to sources, the soldier was fatally wounded with a sword bearing the words "For Kursk."

His hands were tied with grey tape, and his injured body was sprawled on the road amidst damaged machinery and houses with shattered windows. The whereabouts of the crime are currently unknown.

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It is essential to mention that Yurii Belousov, the head of the Department of the Prosecutor General's Office for Countering Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict, stated that between March 2022 and April 2024, 54 instances of Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed by Russian occupiers have been reported.

It was revealed on September 6 that the Russian military had killed a Ukrainian prisoner of war and shared a video of the execution.

In addition, in mid-August, a video appeared on the Internet in which the Russians showed the severed head of an alleged Ukrainian serviceman. It happened at the Kolotilovka checkpoint in the Belgorod region of Russia.

Regarding the video of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners, which appeared on social networks on April 7, Belousov said that the crime scene near Krynky in the Kherson region was previously confirmed, but the details are still being checked.

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

On February 20, a video of the execution of three captured Ukrainian defenders by the military of the Russian army near the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region, went viral.

In addition, in the Bakhmut area, the Russian occupiers shot Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered as prisoners. The crime of the occupiers became known, in particular, from a video that spread on social networks. According to the ombudsman, this probably happened on February 24, 2024, on the Bakhmut front.