The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed the authenticity of the video with the alleged shooting of Russian prisoners in the village of Makiivka, Luhansk region. It was noted there that an investigation should be conducted into whether a war crime really took place there and from which side.
This was stated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
"We understand that the Ukrainian authorities have opened criminal proceedings regarding the events in Makiivka. It is important that all allegations of summary executions are fully investigated in a manner that is and is deemed to be independent, impartial, thorough, transparent, prompt and effective," he noted.
Turk also emphasized that independent and detailed forensic examinations should be conducted to find out exactly what happened.
"I also call on the parties to give clear instructions to their forces that there should be no reprisals, no reprisals against those they capture, and to ensure that these instructions are fully implemented," he stressed.
- On November 13, a video from the village of Makiivka, Luhansk region, appeared on social networks. On it, footage of Russians killed in one of the village yards was taken. It is not known what exactly happened to them, but pro-Russian Telegram channels already began to say that the Ukrainian military allegedly shot the prisoners.
- Subsequently, on November 18, a video appeared directly from the scene of the event. It shows the Russian occupiers leaving the building and lying down, presumably surrendering to the Ukrainians. Then one of them opens fire on the Ukrainian military while leaving the building — and the video cuts off.
- Russian Ombudsman Tetiana Moskalkova and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation said that they had appealed to international organizations with the demand to condemn the "shooting of Russian prisoners", to conduct an investigation and to punish the guilty. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation wrote about the "Blood essence of the current Kyiv regime headed by Zelensky".
- In a comment to "Babel", the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office stated that the Luhansk Regional Prosecutorʼs Office entered information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations "on the fact that servicemen of the Soviet Union committed treason" during their capture. Criminal proceedings have been initiated regarding the violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code). A preliminary analysis of the video indicates that the Russians in the village of Makiivka, Luhansk region, simulated surrender and opened fire on Ukrainian defenders, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law. The prosecutorʼs office emphasized that they will give a legal assessment to all participants of the event.