This Sunday, the Ukrainian government announced the opening of an investigation into “executions” of Ukrainian soldiers wishing to surrender committed by Russian forces.
This accusation of “war crime” follows the broadcast, on the social network Telegram, of a video showing two men coming out of a shelter, one with his hands above his head, before lying on the ground under the eyes of another group of soldiers. What appears to be gunfire ensues and smoke appears, before the undated video abruptly ends.
These images were allegedly filmed near the village of Stepové, near Avdiïvka, a town in eastern Ukraine where fighting is raging, the Donetsk prosecutor’s office said this Sunday, citing “information preliminaries”. The video shows “a group of people wearing Russian uniforms” shooting at two “unarmed” Ukrainian soldiers who were surrendering, the same source assured on Telegram.
An “investigation” had been opened into these facts, he added, recalling that the “execution of prisoners of war” constituted “a serious international crime”. To date, neither the location of the images nor their authenticity has been confirmed by AFP.