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Following the dissemination of images on social networks, the Ukrainian army is suspected of abuses against Russian soldiers.
The images of the mass graves in Boutcha, near the Ukrainian capital, shocked the world and shed a harsh light on the abuses committed by Russian soldiers in this war. Today, overwhelming videos in support, it is the turn of the Ukrainian soldiers to be suspected of ill-treatment vis-à-vis Russian prisoners of war. Did they execute Russian soldiers? This is what videos circulating on social networks suggest.
On one of them, we can see Ukrainian soldiers around four men on the ground in military uniform and a white armband around their arm, suggesting that they are Russian soldiers. Suddenly, a Ukrainian soldier hears one of them breathing. ” Look, he’s still alive “, he exclaims in front of the body lying on the road, stained with puddles of blood. And then we hear three shots ringing. And breathing fades.
At the end of the video, a soldier is heard saying: Glory to Ukraine “. And another, who adds: Do not return to our lands “. Several of the men in the images are identifiable.
Investigation
This filmed scene, which the New York Times was able to identify on April 4, was shot near the village of Dmitrovka, a few kilometers south of Boutcha, where several hundred civilians were found dead shortly after the departure of the Russian troops.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said he was aware of this video and promised investigations. According to him, these are isolated acts ». Other images had already alerted Human Rights Watch. A video in particular on which we could see Ukrainian soldiers shooting in the legs of Russian prisoners of war. The human rights NGO calls for the opening of an investigation into what looks like abuses committed by Ukrainian forces.
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