The Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, has publicized video footage of interrogation of a Russian serviceman who is accused of executing Ukrainian prisoners of war two years ago.
The video shared by the SBU in its social media account, shows Sergey Skobelev, acting as the commander of a Russian assault group, admitting that he, along with his accomplice, shot dead nine Russian captives in Russia’s border Kursk region on January 23, in October 2024. Skobelev said his group captured the Ukrainian soldiers and forced them to lay down on the ground naked, tricked them into believing that they would be kept alive to be later exchanged, after which he and his accomplice named Ivanovich shot dead all prisoners with standard-issue weapons. The order to execute the hostages was issued by Skobelev’s commander. After the execution, the Russian assault group gathered phones and radios of the victims and continued their combat duties.
Skobelev was detained a week later. While initially refusing to admit his guilt, he then confessing to executing four of the nine Ukrainian soldiers, while stating that five other Ukrainians were shot dead by his accomplice.
In a statement published on Friday, the SBU said the crime committed by the Russian assault groups amounts to a serious violation of the Geneva Convention and other international instruments that govern the treatment of prisoners of war, adding that a notice of suspicion is being prepared against Skobelev.
Earlier on January 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the army captured another Russian serviceman involved in the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia’s Kursk region in October 2025. “Every Russian murderer must be held accountable for their actions. And so it will be,” Zelenskiy said, stressing that Ukraine continues to counter Russian sabotage efforts in the rear and thanked the Security Service of Ukraine for protecting Ukrainian citizens.
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