Russian forces seem to have gunned down a group of surrendering Ukrainian soldiers near Pokrovsk in late August, CNN reported on Sept. 6, publishing an exclusive video.
This comes as another apparent case of Russia summarily executing Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) or surrendering soldiers, which could amount to war crimes.
Drone footage published by CNN shows three Ukrainian soldiers surrendering after their trench was overrun.
Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of POWs, told CNN that Russian soldiers are ordered to summarily execute their Ukrainian counterparts so they would fear the same fate if they surrendered.
In a similar case reported this week, Russia executed three Ukrainian POWs near Toretsk, a town northeast of Pokrovsk, according to Ukrainian prosecutors.
Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said in June that Russian commanders had given orders "not to capture Ukrainian servicemen, but instead to kill them with inhuman cruelty."
He made the statement after footage was revealed that showed a Ukrainian soldier beheaded by Russian troops. »
