The Russian military command tolerates extrajudicial executions of captured Ukrainian soldiers, the American think tank Institute for War Studies (ISW) wrote in its latest report.
Russian forces are increasingly executing Ukrainian soldiers who surrender on the front lines
— ISW analysts noted. They recalled that CNN published on Friday a recording showing the execution of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast in late August and in Zaporizhia Oblast in May.
CNN added, citing sources in Ukrainian military intelligence, that 15 such executions have been recorded since November 2023.
Executions of surrendered soldiers
Ukrainian intelligence also provided a transcript of intercepted recordings of the May 2024 executions, which show that the Russian commander ordered his subordinates to kill surrendering Ukrainians. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said that since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, his office has opened investigations into at least 28 extrajudicial executions of surrendering soldiers.
ISW has extensively reported on previous images and accounts of Russian soldiers executing Ukrainian prisoners of war. Reports of abuses against Ukrainian prisoners are becoming increasingly common, and are accepted or even openly supported by Russian army commanders.
– analysts said.
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MD/PAP
