The Kremlin: “The authenticity of this horrific footage must first be verified”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday condemned what he described as Russian “monsters” after a video was posted on social media showing the beheading of a man believed to be a Ukrainian prisoner of war, while calling on the Kremlin to “verify the authenticity” of the recording.
The video was posted on Instagram. It shows, according to Kiev, a Russian soldier beheading a Ukrainian prisoner with a knife.
“How easily these people get killed. The whole world should see this video of a Ukrainian prisoner of war execution. This video shows Russia for what it is,” Zelensky said in a video posted on Instagram.
According to the Russian “Tass” agency, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that the scenes of a soldier’s execution could be considered a reason for an investigation, but they must first be verified.
Today, Wednesday, Peskov said, commenting on the video clip: “The authenticity of these horrific footage must first be verified, of course it is horrific footage.”
He added, “After confirming the authenticity of the scenes, they can of course become a reason for conducting an investigation, whether this actually happened, and if it happened, then where and by whom.”
“First of all, in the world of fake news in which we live, it is necessary to verify the authenticity of the scenes,” Peskov concluded.