Russians shot three Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Donetsk region

Russian soldiers shot three captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers — the Ukrainian prosecutorʼs office has launched an investigation.

This was reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.

According to the investigation, on May 3, 2025, three servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were performing combat missions at positions near the village of Novopil in the Donetsk region. During the assault, the occupiers surrounded the Ukrainian defenders, forced them to lay down their arms and surrender. After that, the Russian military shot them with automatic weapons.

The Prosecutorʼs Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into the fact of committing a war crime that caused the death of people (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war

According to data as of December 2024, the Russians have executed at least 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Of the 177 confirmed cases, 109 occurred in 2024. This is data as of December 2024.

According to Dmytro Lubinets, his office learns about most cases from videos from Ukrainian special services. At the same time, there are cases when information comes directly from Ukrainian military units. In addition, the Russians publish relevant videos on social networks.

The Ukrainian side informs the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN about cases of execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Lubinets notes that the ICRC has never publicly or privately accused the Russians of murdering or torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war. But official UN reports for 2024 first revealed data that the Russians were executing Ukrainian defenders.

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