CNN: Number Of Executions Of Ukrainian POWs Increases

Russians have already killed more than 60 unarmed Ukrainian servicemen.

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has been investigating at least 28 incidents since the beginning of the Russian invasion, when the Russian military shot captured unarmed Ukrainian military prisoners at the frontline. We are talking about the deaths of at least 62 Ukrainian servicemen in such incidents.

Such data was provided by the Ukrainian prosecutor's office to the US CNN television channel.

Besides, sources in the Ukrainian intelligence provided CNN with a list of 15 cases of executing Ukrainian captives since November 2023. Most of these incidents are confirmed by drone videos and audio intercepts. This data proves that Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russians at the front lines already after they had surrendered.

CNN has also obtained and released two new videos of cases of such executions.

The first video was taken from a Ukrainian drone in the Pokrovsk direction in August 2024. Three Ukrainian armed forces apparently surrendered after their trenches were captured. However, the Russians shot the prisoners. At that, the Ukrainian military were on their knees with their hands on their heads and offered no resistance. Details regarding the unit and location where the incident took place are not disclosed so as not to interfere with the operational security of the AFU.

Attention! The video shows the execution of servicemen, it may traumatise sensitive people

The second video shows the execution of three more captives near Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia region and it was taken in May 2024. The Russian military ordered the three Ukrainians to lie face down after their dugout was captured. The Ukrainian intelligence handed over to CNN the audio recordings where a Russian commander with the call sign of ‘Turok’ remotely orders his subordinate with the call sign of ‘Maloy’, who was on the battlefield, to kill the captives and report back afterwards.

CNN writes that all this footage, as well as data from Ukrainian prosecutors and intelligence, ‘seems to reflect the ruthlessly brutal tactics of the Russian military.’ In comments to the TV channel, Ukraine's prosecutor general confirmed that he believes such killings are part of Moscow's organised policy.

‘If prisoners of war surrender, if they demonstrate that they are surrendering, if they do not have weapons in their hands, then the shooting is a war crime,’ Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told CNN.

Kostin reminded that such crimes have been committed in different regions of Ukraine by different Russian units, giving Kyiv ‘the opportunity to claim that such an approach can be classified as crimes against humanity. This policy is coordinated by the Kremlin. It is an order from specific commanders,’ Kostin emphasised.

CNN journalists emphasise that the emergence of numerous videos showing executions of AFU military and the increasing prevalence of such a barbaric practice on the part of the Russians poses a dilemma for the Ukrainian command. After all, the need to warn its own military and draw the world's attention to these crimes at the same time ‘risks undermining the already depleted Ukrainian morale’, the material says.

CNN's Ukrainian source, who provided video of the recent execution near Pokrovsk, also said that their unit is aware of numerous similar cases at the front lines that have not yet been made public and are not yet the subject of official investigations.

At the same time, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Kostin suggested that the systemic nature of these battlefield executions meant that they could later become part of a wider genocide case against Russia in international courts.

A source in the U.N. investigative body told CNN that some of the cases of executing Ukrainian soldiers by the Russians have already been the subject of their investigation. ‘There are many such cases. There is a regularity. It suggests complacency [as a motive for the Russians‘ action], if not an order not to spare [the captives],’ this source said.

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