This winter, 32 Ukrainian POWs were executed by Russian forces, UN report reveals

A new report from the United Nations has uncovered evidence of widespread torture, ill-treatment, and summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) by Russian forces, amounting to war crimes under international law.

The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), covering December 2023 through February 2024, documents dozens of cases of Ukrainian POWs being brutally executed by Russian troops after being captured and detained.

“In the reporting period, OHCHR recorded 12 cases of executions of at least 32 captured Ukrainian POWs,” the report states, noting that three of those incidents involving the killings of seven Ukrainian soldiers were directly verified by UN monitors.

One particularly horrific case investigated by OHCHR involved three Ukrainian POWs who were captured by Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in December 2023. According to a witness, two of the Ukrainian soldiers were executed immediately upon surrendering, while the third, who had been injured by a mine, was forced by the Russians to conduct demining work before also being executed.

In another incident from mid-December in the same region, a Ukrainian POW was interrogated overnight in a basement by Russian troops. A witness reported that one of the Russian servicemen first shot the POW in the leg for allegedly “not speaking clearly,” before then fatally shooting him twice in the back while he was defenseless.

The report presents a pattern of Russian forces deliberately killing Ukrainian POWs who had been captured and were no longer participating in hostilities, which constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a war crime.

Previously reported incidents of Russian soldiers executing Ukrainian soldiers

There have been several reported incidents of Russian soldiers executing Ukrainian soldiers who were attempting to surrender, which have been documented by Euromaidan Press:

Execution near Bakhmut: On February 24, 2023, a video released by Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets showed Russian troops shooting at least 7 Ukrainians who were trying to surrender near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast. The Ukrainian soldiers were seen surrendering with their hands raised, but instead of taking them prisoner, the Russians ruthlessly shot them.

Another Russian war crime! Russians shot surrendering

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