The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine is investigating 28 cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia. In total, 62 Ukrainian servicemen died in them.
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told CNN.
Sources in the Main Intelligence Directorate (known as GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine provided CNN with a list of 15 shootings from November 2023, most of which were confirmed by video and audio intercepts by drones.
One of the videos obtained by CNN was filmed in the Toretsk area, where one of the most difficult situations on the front is there. In the footage, Ukrainian servicemen emerge from the basement with their hands raised to surrender, and are then shot by Russian troops. The prosecutorʼs office of the Donetsk region opened a case on the fact of violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder.
CNN also received a video shot in May in the Zaporizhzhia region, not far from Robotyny. On it, Russian soldiers order Ukrainian prisoners of war to lie down on the ground. After that, the Russian commander with the call sign "Turok" gave the order to the soldier "Malyi" to eliminate them. The video shows Russian soldiers opening fire.
The number of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war has increased this year. Prosecutor General Kostin considers these murders to be war crimes and part of the Kremlinʼs organized policy.
"If prisoners of war surrender, if they show that they surrender, if they are without weapons in their hands, then shooting is a war crime," Kostin said.
Prosecutor General Kostin says that the Russians killed Ukrainian prisoners of war in various regions of Ukraine. This was also done by various units. So it can be argued that this is the policy of the Kremlin, it can be classified as a crime against humanity.