Video obtained exclusively by CNN, taken during late August fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, shows Russian soldiers apparently executing three Ukrainians who surrendered after their trench was seized.
The incident, described by a Ukrainian official who asked that some details be withheld to protect the unit’s identity, is part of a spate of apparent executions that appear to have increased this year.
Ukrainian defense intelligence sources have given CNN 15 since November. a list of incidents, most of which are confirmed by drone video or audio, where they say surrendering Ukrainian soldiers were killed by the Russians on the front line rather than captured.
Ukraine’s attorney general told CNN his office is investigating 28 such incidents since the start of the war, which has killed a total of 62 Ukrainian soldiers.
Footage from the Pokrovsk region appears to reflect the ruthlessly brutal tactics of the Russian military as it continues its advance into eastern Ukraine.
Moscow continues to hone Ukraine’s strategic military hub of Pokrovsk, although recent gains by Kyiv in Russia’s border region of Kursk have fueled hopes that the Kremlin will be forced to divert troops to defend Russia’s own borders.
Ukrainian prosecutors told CNN that they believe the alleged killings are war crimes and part of a policy orchestrated by the Kremlin. “If prisoners of war surrender, if they show that they are surrendering, if they don’t have weapons in their hands, then summary execution is a war crime,” Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin told CNN.
A. Kostin said that such crimes were committed in various areas of Ukraine, they were carried out by various units, so Kyiv “has an opportunity to claim that such policies can be (elevated) to crimes against humanity.” This policy is organized by the Kremlin. This is an order from specific commanders.”
The emergence of videos showing the escalation of Russian tactics has created a dilemma for Ukrainian commanders, who have the unenviable task of warning their troops and the world of Russian brutality, at the risk of weakening Ukrainians’ already frayed morale.
A Ukrainian official who provided Pokrovsk with drone footage said his unit was aware of many similar cases on the front lines that had not been made public or investigated.
Some of the recent cases have been made public: One of Torecki’s units announced on Telegram that it had a drone video it released Tuesday of three Ukrainian soldiers emerging from a basement, raising their hands in surrender, and then shooting a Russian soldier. Prosecutors in the Donetsk region said they had opened an investigation into “violation of the laws and customs of war with intentional killing.”
Several Russian soldiers have been tried for such killings, including one in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia region. Ukrainian prosecutors claim that the Russian was convicted in November. released from a sentence for theft to serve in the 127th motorized rifle division of the Russian army. Prosecutors have released drone footage that supports their claim that the Russian in January. shot a Ukrainian soldier when he came out of his trench near Priyutna with his hands up and knelt down.
CNN has obtained another drone video, also from the Zaporizhia region, showing how in May of this year near the hotly contested village of Robotynya, Russian soldiers ordered three Ukrainian soldiers to lie face down after their trench was attacked. Ukrainian defense intelligence has released transcripts of audio intercepted by CNN that it says shows a Russian commander known as “Turk” ordering his subordinate to kill prisoners at Maloys Field:
Turk: “Finish them off, finish them off, nullify them.”
Maloj: “Understood.”
Turk: “When you finish them, let me know.”
Drone video shows the Russians opening fire as all three Ukrainians climb out of the trench and lie face down.
While Russian leader Vladimir Putin has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for his role in an alleged scheme to forcibly deport Ukrainian children to Russia, Kyiv is aggressively accusing Moscow of genocide. Ukrainian Prosecutor General A. Kostin has suggested that the systematic nature of these alleged battlefield executions means they could become part of a wider case of genocide.
At the invitation of Kyiv in May. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, visited Ukraine in part to investigate reports of extrajudicial executions during the battle.
A UN investigation source told CNN that some apparent executions of Ukrainian soldiers have been investigated. “There are many of them. There is a certain pattern. This suggests that it is a credulity, if not an order to show no mercy,” the source said, referring to the practice of showing no mercy.
“Individual killings are already war crimes,” the source said, “and together they can amount to crimes against humanity.”
Prepared by CNN.
2024-09-07 16:12:34