The UN human rights monitoring mission reports an “alarming increase“ in executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces in recent months, Reuters reports, News.bg reports.
According to the report, the mission in Ukraine has received information about 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since the end of August 2024. International humanitarian law categorically prohibits the execution of prisoners of war and the wounded, defining it as a war crime.
"Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were physically detained by Russian forces were shot on the spot. "Witness accounts also describe killings of unarmed and wounded Ukrainian soldiers," the mission's report said.
The UN has analyzed video and photo materials released by Ukrainian and Russian sources, as well as conducted detailed interviews with witnesses, to confirm the credibility of the allegations.
The head of the mission, Daniel Bell, said that "some Russian officials have explicitly called for the inhumane treatment and even execution" of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The mission said it had also documented the execution of a wounded and incapacitated Russian soldier by Ukrainian forces in 2024, but did not provide further details.
The Ukrainian prosecutor's office has previously said it is investigating dozens of cases of executions of Ukrainian servicemen by Russian forces.