Ukraine plans to investigate video of Ukrainian forces allegedly killing Russian prisoners

Ukraine says it will investigate video footage circulated on Russian social media that Moscow claims shows Ukrainian forces killing Russian troops who may have been trying to surrender, after one of the men apparently refused to put down his weapon and opened fire

“Of course the Ukrainian authorities will investigate this video,” Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister overseeing the country’s push to join the European Union, said on the sidelines of a security forum in Halifax. Nova Scotia

Stefanishyna, speaking late Saturday, said it was “highly unlikely” that the short, edited excerpts would show what Moscow claims.

Russian authorities on Friday announced the opening of a criminal investigation based on the excerpts posted on Russian Telegram channels and rebroadcast on other social networks. They present a confused and incomplete picture.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the footage showed an “execution” and said Russia wants an international investigation.

Stefanishyna, however, said Ukrainian forces are “absolutely not interested in executing anyone” and have direct orders to take “as many prisoners of war as we can” so they can be exchanged in prisoner swaps with Russia.

CHINA IS WINNING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR OVER MASSIVE US AND RUSSIA WAR SPENDING

“Every potentially executed Russian soldier is a Ukrainian who cannot be exchanged, so the spirit and logic are not there,” he said.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine called for further investigations.

“HRMMU is aware of the video and is investigating it,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We reiterate our call for all these allegations to be properly and promptly investigated by the respective authorities.”

Asked whether Ukraine will allow an international investigation, Stefanishyna said: “We’ll see. There’s no problem with that.”

In the nearly nine-month invasion, Moscow’s forces have committed widespread abuses and alleged war crimes, according to the United Nations, rights groups and AP reports.

Matilda Bogner, who heads the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine, said earlier this week that Ukrainian troops are also suspected of some abuses.

A destroyed apartment building in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on November 13, 2022. Ukraine says it will investigate video footage circulating on Russian social media purportedly showing Ukrainian forces killing Russian troops who were allegedly trying surrender after one of the men. opened fire
(AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko, File)

“We have received credible allegations of summary executions of non-combatants and several cases of torture and ill-treatment, reportedly committed by members of the Ukrainian armed forces,” Bogner said.

Video clips that Russia claimed pointed to an execution could not be independently verified.

WHAT IS PUTIN’S THOUGHT? WHERE IS THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR NINE MONTHS AFTER THE INVASION

The longer clip, 36 seconds long and with cuts, shows a group of about 10 men in full military gear, some lying on the ground and others emerging one by one from an outhouse with their hands up, apparently unarmed. Under orders shouted by someone off-camera, they join the others already on the ground.

Some of the men wear red bands on their lower legs. Russian and Russian-aligned troops sometimes wear red or white identification marks to identify them as members of the Kremlin’s invasion force.

The video also shows other men watching them, who are seen armed and wearing yellow flashes on their arms, legs and helmets.

Ukrainian forces often wear patches of yellow, blue or green to identify themselves on battlefields.

A man with a yellow arm appears to be holding the camera. Another, also wearing a yellow armband, is shown lying on the ground with a heavy machine gun and ammunition belts. At least two other gunmen with yellow sights also appear to be watching the apparent surrender.

In the final seconds of the video, a man emerges from behind the outhouse. He appears to be armed. In the middle of what appears to be sustained gunfire, the video becomes too blurry to see what happened next. The video cuts out after a few seconds.

A separate, 8-second, soundless snippet appears to show these final moments slowed down. When he emerges, the man, apparently armed, appears to raise a rifle and open fire, the muzzle of the gun emitting puffs of smoke.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Another separate piece of video, 25 seconds long and apparently shot with a drone, appears to show the same men lying motionless in what appear to be pools of blood.

It was unclear where and when the videos were filmed. Most of the trees without leaves in the background seem to suggest an autumn or winter period.

Andrey Marochko, a man who identified himself as a Russian officer based in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, claimed on Telegram that the footage was filmed in Makiivka, a village in the occupied region of eastern Ukraine . Russian media gave the same location. Ukrainian forces claimed to have regained control of the frontline village earlier this month.