Increasing executions of Ukrainian prisoners: Russian command likely approves – ISW

Increasing executions of Ukrainian prisoners: Russian command likely approves of this, – ISW Irina Martsiyash

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Russian invaders are increasingly executing Ukrainian soldiers who surrender along the front line. Probably in part because the Russian command seems to approve of the spread of such war crimes.

This is stated in a new report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russian Captors Increasingly Execute Ukrainian Captives

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War believe that the trend of Russian killings of Ukrainian prisoners across the front suggests that they were permitted, if not outright approved, by individual Russian commanders and supported by Russian field commanders.

On Friday, September 6, CNN reported that it had obtained video footage showing Russian troops executing Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered near Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region in late August 2024 and Zaporizhia region in May 2024. years.

As noted, Ukrainian defense intelligence provided CNN with transcripts of audio intercepts made during an execution in May 2024, which indicate that a Russian commander gave his subordinates orders to kill Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered. Ukrainian intelligence sources also provided CNN with a list of 15 cases of Russian troops executing Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered since November 2023. It is indicated that most of them were accompanied by drone footage or audio intercepts.

The Prosecutor General's Office has investigated at least 28 such executions since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. A United Nations (UN) source told CNN that the “pattern” of these Russian executions “shows complacency, if not a command to show no mercy,” and that together they amount to crimes against humanity.