Kyiv accuses Russia of executing five Ukrainian POWs
- 22 November, 08:28
Ukraine has accused Russia of executing five prisoners of war, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office said on Friday.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian troops attacked the Ukrainian position in eastern town of Vuhledar on October 2 and shot dead five unarmed soldiers.Russian troops killed one of the prisoners of war in a forest belt and took four of them to the road at gunpoint, where they also shot them dead, the Prosecutor's Office said.
"The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a serious international crime. Urgent investigative actions are being taken to establish all the circumstances of the incident,” the Prosecutor’s Office said
The Prosecutor’s Office said the pre-trial investigation was conducted by the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainian prosecutors have launched an investigation into 13 cases of war crimes committed by Russian troops. One of such investigations was opened in the past two months into the alleged killing of 54 Ukrainian POWs, which is a third of all such proceedings in 2024, senior prosecutor Taras Semkiv told Ukrainian television on Friday.
Russia has previously denied committing any war crimes in Ukraine.
