Russian soldiers face no consequences for executing Ukrainian POWs – ISW
Photo: pgo_gov_ua
According to specialists at the Institute for the Study of War, the reports of Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed by the Russians reveal that the soldiers responsible have not faced consequences from their commanding officers.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that.
"Ukrainian officials continue to report executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia," the report says.
The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine announced on November 9 that it is investigating a video showing Russian troops executing a captured and unarmed Ukrainian service member in violation of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War.
Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he sent letters regarding war crime reports to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"ISW has extensively reported on previous footage and reports of Russian servicemembers executing Ukrainian POWs and observed a wider trend of Russian abuses against Ukrainian POWs across various sectors of the front that appeared to be enabled, if not explicitly endorsed, by individual Russian commanders and unpunished by Russian field commanders," the report reads.
ISW key findings as of November 10:
- Ukrainian forces struck Russian ammunition warehouses in the Bryansk region during a large-scale Ukrainian drone strike against Russia on the night of November 9 and 10.
- Ukrainian officials continue to report Russian executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).
- Russian forces recently advanced in the Pokrovsk direction.
As Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, said, Ukraine already knows about more than a hundred cases of executions by the Russian military of soldiers of the Defense Forces who surrendered as prisoners.
Former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andrii Kostin stated that about 90% of Ukrainian prisoners of war were subjected to torture, rape, threats of sexual violence or other forms of ill-treatment.
Videos of the killings of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian military were repeatedly circulated on the Internet. Currently, Ukrainian law enforcement officers have information about the execution of 93 prisoners of war on the battlefield.
In particular, the Russian military executed two captured soldiers of Ukraine's armed forces near the city of Selydove in the Donetsk region.
Earlier, Rubryka reported that the Russian military in the Bakhmut area shot a serviceman of Ukraine's armed forces, who may have been wounded. According to this fact, the prosecutor's office started an investigation.
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.
In addition, at least 177 Ukrainian soldiers died in Russian captivity.
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