On Sunday, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that on February 24th, in the Bakhmut district, Russian occupiers once again executed Ukrainian prisoners of war, resulting in at least seven deaths. Lubinets stressed that he has already brought this issue to the attention of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He added: “Another Russian war crime took place on February 24, 2024, in the Bakhmut district. The video we obtained shows Ukrainian soldiers surrendering according to international laws: their hands raised in surrender, indicating they were unarmed and posed no threat. Instead of taking them as prisoners of war, the Russians callously gunned them down.”
“It’s worth mentioning that Ukraine has already identified the exact military unit to which the Russian soldiers, seen in the released video, belong. With this in mind, pleas have been sent to the UN and the Red Cross to publicly acknowledge that Russian soldiers are executing Ukrainian prisoners of war. For the Russian army, the Geneva Conventions, rules, and customs of war hold no value. They operate based on their own unwritten “conventions,” “rules,” and “customs” – marked by cruelty, cowardice, and treachery,” Lubinets added.
This is far from the first instance of war crimes committed by the Russian occupation forces in Ukraine on a battlefield. Earlier, on February 18, it was reported that Russian occupiers shot two Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered as prisoners of war. The shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the invaders was captured on video by a drone. The video, released by the Ground Forces of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, reveals the tragic events that unfolded on Sunday morning, February 18, within the area covered by Ukraine’s Hortytsia Operational Command.
“In yet another display of disregard for the Geneva Conventions, this morning Russians brutally executed 2 Ukrainian prisoners of war,” said the statement of Hortytsia Operational Command. “The video footage clearly shows the moment when the occupation forces approached two Ukrainian soldiers, who made no resistance. One of the Russian soldiers, coming close to the Ukrainians, fired at the soldiers. Subsequently, he proceeded to execute the fighters who lay motionless on the ground.
Furthermore, at the beginning of January 2024, Russian soldiers committed another war crime by shooting 6 Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered in the Donetsk region.
