reportage
They are shocking footage from the war zone, showing Ukrainian soldiers being killed after surrendering. Kiev sees it as a Russian tactic to spread fear on both sides.
In the background of the video, a voice in Russian can be heard saying, “Recording in progress.” A masked man in a Russian uniform aims a rifle at a young Ukrainian soldier, who is lying on the forest floor with a bandage wrapped around his thigh. “Do you have any last words?” the masked man asks. “Would you like to say a prayer before you die?”
The young man looks and is silent. The masked soldier fires several shots at the unarmed Ukrainian. The perpetrator appears completely calm. The body of the Ukrainian soldier stands up and then lies motionless on the brown forest floor.
Ukrainian drones gather evidence
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, there have been repeated photos and videos showing Russian invaders killing Ukrainian soldiers. Petro Yatsenko says that these may come from Russian sources or may be recorded from Ukrainian drones. He is a spokesman for the Kiev “coordination staff”, which consists, among other things, of representatives of the military, secret services and the Ministry of Defense, and is responsible for Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians in Russian hands.
Petro Yatsenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian “coordination staff”, promised that the perpetrators would be prosecuted.
Yatchenko said incidents filmed by Ukrainian drones, for example, showed unarmed Ukrainian soldiers trying to surrender in dugouts.
Executions are usually carried out immediately, in the field or in the forest, before unarmed Ukrainian soldiers are captured by Russian forces.
Kiev reports increase in executions
The video, which purported to show the execution of a Ukrainian soldier, came from a closed Russian Telegram channel that was systematically monitored, Yatchenko said.
From December 2023 to February 2024, the UN Human Rights Watch in Ukraine recorded the deaths of 32 soldiers in 12 locations. The number of such executions has increased, Yatsenko reports. This means that this is a Russian state policy and is not carried out by the initiative of ordinary soldiers.
The prisoners’ families are worried.
The “coordination staff” in Kiev is an important point of contact for relatives of soldiers and civilians in Russian hands. Women gathered near the building. “When will the Azov people be replaced?” a homemade cardboard sign reads.
Margarita Manzo’s fiancé fought in the steel mills there after the Russian attack on Mariupol and was eventually forced to surrender as a Russian prisoner on the orders of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The 31-year-old said she hasn’t seen her fiancé in over two years. Society generally forgets the Azov prisoners and others.
“We are here every day”
“We come before the coordination staff every day to remind the society and the staff,” Manschos said. Relatives of civilians taken prisoner by Russia are also here because they are not being exchanged.
The video of the extrajudicial execution of Ukrainian soldiers has raised alarm among women, including Margarita Mantsos. “The fact that prisoners are being executed is very important, because this has already become a kind of norm in Russia,” she said.
Violetta Schokowa’s husband also fought in Mariupol. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being arrested in a Russian show trial. The young lawyer said the footage shocked her and she had to take tranquilizers. “It’s crazy to see something like this happening to a stranger. What if someone I know was shot like that?”
Margarita Manschos and Iryna protested in Kiev every day, according to their statements.
The murder is said to have caused fear even in Russia
Jatsenko of the “Coordination Staff” is convinced that Moscow wants to spread terror in Ukraine by killing unarmed soldiers. But this is also a signal to Russian soldiers not to surrender, because if they do not surrender, they will also be executed.
The perpetrators of the executions are mostly ordinary Russian soldiers and commanders. Thanks to military intelligence, we know details such as units and nicknames. This is also possible thanks to the ‘glass battlefield’ created by the use of drones.
“We see and hear what these people are saying. Their conversations, photos, videos are intercepted. And if these people are not killed in the war in Ukraine, they will be found and prosecuted,” Yatsenko said.
Stabbed with a knife
Meanwhile, Dmytro Rubinets, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights committee, was forced to comment on the alleged extrajudicial execution of another Ukrainian soldier. A photograph classified as authentic by the prosecutor’s office shows the young man dead in a blood-soaked Ukrainian uniform near Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. A large sword with the Russian inscription “For Kursk” sticks out of the body.
NOTE: Margarita Manschos’ fiancé was exchanged and returned to Ukraine on September 14.
