The United Nations (UN) accused Ukrainian and Russian forces on Friday of having committed dozens of summary executions of prisoners of war since the Russian invasion. “We are deeply concerned about the summary execution of 25 Russian prisoners of war and persons hors de combat” as well as that of “15 Ukrainian prisoners of war”, says Matilda Bogner, head of the human rights monitoring mission United Nations man in Ukraine.
According to her, the UN has documented these executions of Russians by the Ukrainian armed forces, “often” perpetrated “immediately after capture on the battlefield”. The UN is aware of five investigations carried out by Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, which involve 22 victims. But “we are not aware of any prosecution against the authors”.
Wagner implicated
Regarding the executions of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war “soon after their capture” by the Russian armed forces”, 11 were perpetrated by the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, the official said.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of prisoner mistreatment amounting to war crimes since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Wagner Group is on the front line fighting for the city of Bakhmout , epicenter of hostilities in eastern Ukraine.
At the beginning of March, a video showing the alleged execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers caused shock in Ukraine. In November, the Russian presidency was outraged by two videos showing the alleged execution of a dozen Russian soldiers who had just surrendered to Ukrainian forces.