In the evening of April 11, a video showing the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war appeared in the public space. From the video footage, it can be assumed that the people who committed the crime are Russian servicemen, they note mdeuza.io.
It is currently unknown when, where and by whom the images were recorded, as well as who exactly is the person filmed. According to some opinions, it is not excluded that the images are from the summer of 2022. The authenticity of the recording has not been confirmed.
This is not the only case. A few days earlier, on April 8, pro-Russian Telegram channels published another video of decapitated soldiers. The images were allegedly recorded by PMC Wagner mercenaries near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, the authors of the posts claim.
Furthermore, on April 10, the Ukrainian press reported on a photo in which a human head appears. A day earlier, the photo was published by the Russian public “Militari Z” (which supports the war), claiming that the photo was taken in Bakhmut, and that it was a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The authenticity of the photo has not been verified by independent sources.
Ukraine promises to punish the perpetrators
Immediately after the images appeared, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Ermak, wrote on his Telegram channel: “There will be an answer and punishment for everything.” Ukrainian journalists believe that this is how Ermak commented on the recording of the crime.
The SBU said the video showed the torture as well as the killing of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian army fighters. The agency launched a preliminary investigation under the article on violation of the laws of war, associated with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
“We will find these bastards. If necessary, we will find them wherever they are: underground or in the other world. But for what they did, they will definitely be punished,” commented SBU head Vasilii Maliuk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he asked world leaders to respond to the recorded videos and help Kiev confront Moscow:
Everyone has to react. Every leader. Do not expect that it will be forgotten, that time will pass. We will not forget anything. Legal liability will be for anything. Terror must be defeated. No one will understand if leaders don’t respond. Now we must act!
Author: Volodymyr Zelensky
Russia’s comment
The Kremlin, in response to a request for comment on the images, said the authenticity of the footage should first be verified because “we live in a world of fakes.”
“Of course, these are terrible photos and first you have to check the authenticity and then of course this can be an opportunity to check whether this is true or not, if this happened. If it was, then let’s find out from where and from whom”, said the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Interfax.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not comment on the video. At the same time, in some pro-Russian Telegram channels, the publication of the video caused an approving reaction, write it down Agency.
The reaction of the UN and the EU
The UN has declared that it is “appalled” by the “horrifying” videos in which Russian soldiers beheaded a captured Ukrainian soldier and another that appears to show the decapitated bodies of two other Ukrainian soldiers lying next to a destroyed military vehicle, notes mediafax.ro.
In a statement, the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, part of the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the apparent executions were “not an isolated incident”.
He added, according to The Guardian: In recent reports, the Mission has documented a number of serious violations of international humanitarian law, including those committed against prisoners of war. The latest incidents must also be properly investigated and the perpetrators must be held accountable.
<
p class=”mb-8 px-6 md:px-0 font-bitter text-s17-l170 md:text-s18-l170 text-c121212″>”The EU is committed to holding accountable those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine,” said a spokesman, Nabila Massrali.
