Ukraine urges ICC to investigate video appearing to show Russians killing PoW

Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by misana123
image for Ukraine urges ICC to investigate video appearing to show Russians killing PoW

Ukraine has urged the international criminal court to investigate footage circulating on social media that appeared to show Russian fighters killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

In the graphic clip that first circulated on Telegram, a detained combatant is seen standing in a shallow trench and smoking a cigarette. The soldier says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons.

Late on Monday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote on Twitter that the “horrific” video was more “proof this war is genocidal”.

Kuleba added that it was “imperative” that international criminal court prosecutor Karim Khan “launches an immediate ICC investigation into this heinous war crime”.

“Perpetrators must face justice,” he said.

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said that he had sent the video to the country’s “international partners”.

“Once again, they violate Geneva conventions. They will not evade responsibility for their atrocities,” Lubinets wrote.

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, appeared to condemn the alleged killing by posting a message on his Instagram account on Monday evening that read: “Glory to our Hero … Glory to Ukraine.”

skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to This is Europe Free weekly newsletter The most pivotal stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion

The Guardian could not independently verify the video, or where it was filmed.

Kyiv has previously accused Moscow of torturing and killing prisoners since Russia invaded Ukraine.

In July, a video emerged that appeared to show a Russian soldier castrating and subsequently killing a Ukrainian prisoner. ​​The UN human rights monitoring mission at the time said it was appalled by the footage.

Last month, Konstantin Yefremov, a senior Russian lieutenant who fled after serving in Ukraine, described to the Guardian how his country’s troops tortured prisoners of war and threatened some with rape.

Throughout the war, the Kremlin has also accused Ukrainian soldiers of executing Russian PoWs and the west of ignoring the incidents.

FutureImminent on March 7th, 2023 at 01:18 UTC »

It's Ukraine's misfortune that they have such a murderous neighbour that's made life hell for them for centuries but there's a slight compensation that said neighbours are so fucking stupid. So stupid that throughout this war Ukraine has barely needed to put too much effort into propanganda or distorting the narrative. The truth is far more effective and that's what they amplify and spread.

The Russians keep whining about Russophobia then film and upload this shit. And it's not the first time. There was that pow castration video too. Like why?

scrambledeggsalad on March 6th, 2023 at 23:58 UTC »

I stumbled upon the video of this in another subreddit earlier. I've been following the conflict pretty close since the beginning and shit like this still makes me shudder. There are things I wish I hadn't seen, this is one of them. But on the other hand, I'm glad the evidence exists of terrible crap like this.

supercyberlurker on March 6th, 2023 at 21:46 UTC »

Russia seems to keep thinking they can 'out-abuse' Ukraine into surrendering, probably because being abused and abusing each other is most of what Russia knows - generational abuse given centuries to fester. Ukraine though is joining the modern world, and the modern world is getting a little fed up with authoritarian abuse. It's why authoritarian abusers are getting so testy lately, they sense people switching to the light and away from the gaslighting... and are fighting to keep their power.