Kyiv investigates allegations Russian forces shot surrendering Ukrainian soldiers
Ukrainian officials on Sunday launched an investigation into allegations that Russian forces killed surrendering Ukrainian soldiers — a war crime if confirmed — after grainy video on social media appeared to show two uniformed men being shot at close range after emerging from a dugout.
The video shows the servicemen, one of them with his hands up, walking out at gunpoint and lying down on the ground before a group of Russian troops appears to open fire. It was not immediately possible to verify the video’s authenticity or the circumstances in which it was recorded, and it was unclear when the incident took place.
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office on Sunday launched a criminal investigation, hours after the Ukrainian military’s press office said in an online statement that the recording is genuine.
“The video shows a group in Russian uniforms shooting, at point-blank range, two unarmed servicemen in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were surrendering,” the prosecutor’s office said in an update Sunday on the messaging app Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. As of Sunday evening, there were no public statements from the Russian government or military on the video.
Kyiv, its Western allies and international human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Moscow of breaching international humanitarian law since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin denies these allegations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the war with Russia is in a new stage, with winter expected to complicate fighting after a summer counteroffensive that failed to produce desired results due to enduring shortages of weapons and ground forces
The video first appeared Saturday on DeepState, a popular Ukrainian Telegram channel covering the war. The post claimed the recording came from the front lines near Avdiivka, a Ukrainian holdout in the country’s part-occupied east where there has been fierce fighting in recent weeks.
The prosecutor general’s office said Sunday that the alleged killing took place in the Pokrovsk district, which includes Avdiivka and surrounding areas.
“It’s clear from the video that the Ukrainian servicemen are taking the necessary steps that show they are surrendering,” Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, said hours after the video emerged Saturday.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Lubinets described the incident as “yet another glaring example of Russia’s violations of international humanitarian law.”
Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military grouping that is fighting near Avdiivka, was cited by Ukrainian media as saying the video was “glaring confirmation” of Moscow’s disrespect for the laws of war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000, to a total of 1.32 million.
In March, video of a man exclaiming “Glory to Ukraine!” before being gunned down in a wooded area sparked national outcry in Ukraine, as senior officials alleged that he was an unarmed prisoner of war killed by Russian soldiers.
In the summer, Kyiv and Moscow also traded blame for a shelling attack on a prison in occupied eastern Ukraine that killed dozens of Ukrainian POWs. Each side accused the other of targeting the facility in Olenivka to cover up atrocities, with Ukrainian officials charging captive soldiers had been tortured and executed there.
The United Nations’ human rights chief in July rejected Moscow’s claim that a rocket strike had caused the blast.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported that close to 1,000 towns and villages suffered power outages on Sunday, with hundreds of settlements in the west battered by wintry weather and others affected by ongoing fighting.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, late on Saturday assessed that military operations have slowed down all along the front line in Ukraine due to poor weather, with mud bogging down tracked vehicles and making it hard for lighter equipment and infantry to advance.
U.S. officials are trying to shore up NATO support for the Ukraine war effort without losing sight of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Even so, Shtupun, of Ukraine’s Tavria military command that oversees the stretch of front line near Avdiivka, said in a separate statement Sunday that Russian infantry attacks had intensified in the area over the last day. In a Telegram post, he insisted Ukrainian troops were “holding firm” in Avdiivka and another nearby town.
In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, at least two people died and seven more were wounded after Russian forces on Sunday shelled a high-rise apartment block and other civilian buildings, the head of the city’s military administration said in a series of Telegram posts.
One of the updates by Roman Mrochko featured a blurred photo of what he said was the body of a deceased civilian, apparently lying on a dirt road or in a yard outside the high-rise. The photo’s authenticity could not be independently verified.
Regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin separately reported Sunday that Russian shelling that day damaged two of Kherson’s hospitals. He did not immediately mention any casualties.
Earlier in the day, a 78-year-old civilian died in a village northeast of Kherson after Russian shells slammed into his garage, according to a Telegram update by the regional Ukrainian military administration.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
