The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission has recorded an “alarming rise” in the reported number of executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by the Russian armed forces during the war in the last few months, the global body said on Monday.
The mission in Ukraine said that it had received reports of as many as 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since the end of August 2024. International humanitarian law prohibits the execution of Prisoners of War (PoW) and the wounded. The killings are regarded as a war crime.
“Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were in physical custody of the Russian armed forces were shot dead on the spot. Witness accounts also described the killings of unarmed and injured Ukrainian soldiers,” the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission said in a statement.
The United Nations body obtained and analysed videos and photo material published by both Ukrainian and Russian sources showing executions or dead bodies of those who were allegedly executed. United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission conducted detailed interviews with witnesses of the alleged executions.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission had said that the reported executions took place in areas where Russian offensive operations were underway.
Danielle Bell, head of the mission, has said that some Russian officials “have explicitly called for inhumane treatment, and even execution” of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The mission said that it had also documented the execution of a wounded and incapacitated Russian soldier by members of the Ukrainian armed forces in 2024, but did not give any further details about the execution.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office had earlier said that it was investigating dozens of cases of executions of Ukrainian military personnel by Russian forces on the frontlines of the war that is about to complete three years.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
