Ukraine denounces Russia’s reported execution of captured troops

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman has denounced the alleged execution of nine captured Ukrainian troops by Russian forces in the Kursk border region.

Dmytro Lubinets said he had written to the United Nations and the Red Cross about the allegations, accusing Moscow of breaching “all the rules and customs of war”.

The intervention follows reporting by Ukrainian battlefield analysis site DeepState, which published drone footage purporting to show the dead troops who it said were drone operators. Officials in Russia have yet to comment on the allegations.

Kyiv is believed to have deployed thousands of troops into the Russian border region since it launched its shock incursion earlier this summer.

The images published by DeepState showed the dead Ukrainian troops stripped to their underwear and lying face down in what appeared to be farmland in Kursk. The BBC cannot indepenelty verify the images.

The outlet said the drone operators had been overrun by a rapid Russian advance.

“These actions must not go unpunished, and the enemy must bear full responsibility,” Mr Lubinets wrote in a message to Telegram. “The international community should not turn a blind eye to such crimes!”

Kyiv has frequently accused Russian of executing captured Ukrainian troops – a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Earlier this month the prosecutor general’s office alleged that Russian forces had executed 93 Ukrainian soldiers since the beginning of the conflict.

It added that an official investigation had been opened into reports that 16 Ukrainian soldiers were executed in the eastern Donetsk region near the city of Pokrovsk – where fighting has raged for months. Officials said the reports would mark the “largest mass execution” of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.

The Kremlin denies that its soldiers have been committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Credit: bbc.com

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