In Russia’s war against Ukraine, video footage of the alleged killing of Russian prisoners of war over the weekend sparked excitement and confusion. Two short sequences circulated on social networks and media may show Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.
In the first video, the Ukrainians call out to the Russians from a few meters away to come out of their hiding place in a courtyard. Then uniformed men come out with raised hands; others are already lying on the floor, their hands above their heads. The last man to emerge from hiding has his hands unraised, and may be holding a dark object. A moment later shots are fired, the picture shakes.
The second video shows the courtyard from above. You can see at least eleven people in uniform lying motionless on the ground, with dark spots next to them that look like pools of blood. The Russian Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter: “Videos showing the Ukrainian military relentlessly shooting at unarmed Russian prisoners of war are circulating all over social media.” Those responsible should be punished.
“We will check all versions”
The Prosecutor General’s Office made a statement in Kyiv on Sunday. Yuriy Belousov, head of the department for investigations into war crimes, told the FAZ that the case was being investigated. “We will examine all versions so that the process is clarified as objectively as possible.” The civil prosecutor’s office in the Luhansk region, which is responsible for the process, has begun criminal investigations. If the allegations are true, they face up to life imprisonment. However, the scene with the exchange of fire could be a “sign” that the soldiers had only pretended to surrender. “Whoever surrenders does not shoot at the same time.”
This is apparently the first such case this year. Belousov said several Ukrainian fighters had been sentenced to prison for war crimes in the Donbass war since 2014. In the war that began in 2022, there had only been judgments against 12 soldiers fighting on the Russian side, and there was at least initial suspicion against 204 others. To date, Kyiv has registered more than 45,000 cases of alleged war crimes.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there were strong explosions at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine over the weekend. IAEA experts who have been near the power plant for weeks have reported dozens of impacts near and on the site of the nuclear facility, the agency said on Sunday.
The incidents abruptly ended a period of relative calm at the Russian-held facility, Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement. The management of the power plant reported damage to buildings, systems and equipment. So far, the damage has not affected nuclear safety. There were no injuries. Grossi appealed to both sides to set up a security zone around the facility.