“In a video 16 prisoner soldiers lined up by the Russians and killed on the front line”

Ukraine has denounced what it calls “the largest execution of front-line prisoners” after the spread of a video which would resume the cold-blooded killing of 16 Ukrainian soldiers captured in the Pokrovsk area, on the Donetsk front. The video appeared on social media channels on October 1st and apparently shows the execution of 16 Ukrainian soldiers captured or surrendered during the fighting in the area of ​​the Mykolaivka and Sukhyi Yar villages.

In the video, probably recorded with a drone from afar, some men can be seen coming out of a forest in Russian-controlled territory. Then they are lined up on the side of what appears to be a muddy road and soon fall lifeless under gunfire. The footage then purportedly depicts surviving prisoners showing some signs of life being shot dead at close range by the same men who had fired shots earlier.

“After lining them up, the occupants deliberately opened fire on them to kill them. The wounded, who showed signs of life, were killed with shots from close range. Such actions constitute a cynical and serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualify as a serious international crime” argue the Ukrainians who have opened an investigation for violation of the laws and customs of war and murder.

The video is now in the hands of the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office, which has launched a preliminary investigation. “This is the most massive case of execution of front-line Ukrainian prisoners of war. And this is another proof that the murders and torture of prisoners are not an accident, but a precise policy of the Russian military and political leadership” underlined the general prosecutor Andriy Kostin, explaining that “Measures are currently being adopted to verify the published material. Investigative and search actions have been launched aimed at ascertaining all the circumstances of the predicate crime”.