Several videos have been released through social networks, which have not yet been verified by the authorities, but by the media.
Shots fired at close range and beatings until the face was deformed would be part of the cruelty that some Ukrainian forces would have perpetrated on Russian soldiers captured in the war.
“If confirmed, beating and shooting captured fighters in the legs would constitute a war crime, and Ukraine must demonstrate that it is able and willing to prevent and punish serious violations of international humanitarian law,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. in a report calling on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate and hold those suspected responsible to account.
HRW’s complaint refers to several videos of what appears to be a single event. The images were released on March 27, although they would have been recorded between Friday March 25 and Saturday March 26, on a farm in Mala Rogan, a town near Kharkiv, retaken by Ukrainian troops, according to the news agency. AFP.
What is known about the alleged abuses
The panorama is appalling: the camera shows how someone momentarily discovers the faces of several wounded, “some of whom may no longer be in this world, judging by their glassy and distant eyes,” said HRW.
The longest video shows five men in military uniform on the ground with their hands tied and two of them with bags on their heads.
At least three of the captives appear to be injured in the leg. An orthopedic doctor who reviewed the video for Human Rights Watch said the injuries to his upper leg and blood on the ground were consistent with gunshot wounds.
After 2 minutes and 40 seconds, the captors pull three other inmates out of a blue van and shoot them at close range in the legs.
One of them then hits a prisoner in the face with a rifle butt.
The cited doctor noted that the third prisoner appears to have been shot in the back of the thigh and that the femur fractures are debilitating and likely to bleed profusely.
In the sequence, one of the voices is also heard accusing the detainees of bombing civilians.
“The captors have a mix of uniforms, weapons and equipment and no clearly identifiable insignia. It is not clear if these individuals are part of the regular Army, a territorial defense unit or another force”, highlighted the organization dedicated to the investigation and defense of human rights.
Another video recorded on the same farm and published on March 28 by the Ukrainian journalist, Yuri Butusov, editor of ‘Censor.net’, shows three charred bodies, but it is not yet clear who they are or how they died.
Although the images have not been verified by the authorities of any country, journalistic investigations such as the one carried out by the British chain ‘BBC’ attribute a very high degree of credibility to the events.
Under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), military personnel detained as a result of a conflict are prisoners of war. Furthermore, the Third Geneva Convention specifies that their rights must be protected and lays down detailed rules on their treatment and eventual release.
Ukraine recognizes that military mistreatment would be a war crime
Faced with Moscow’s accusations last week, initially some officials such as the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, responded that it would be “false” accusations and part of the Kremlin’s propaganda in the ongoing war.
However, hours later, the Ministry of Defense and other senior commanders of the Ukrainian Army indicated that they are committed to respecting human rights, urged their forces not to repeat these actions and promised to sanction if they verify the possible facts.
Olexiy Arestovych, one of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top advisers, has acknowledged that the abuse of prisoners of war constitutes a war crime.
“I would like to once again remind all of our military, civilian and defense forces that the abuse of prisoners of war is a war crime that has no amnesty under military law and no statute of limitations (…) I remind everyone that we are a European Army of a European country. We will treat prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Convention, regardless of their personal emotional motives,” Arestovych posted on his Telegram account on the night of March 27.
On March 10, Human Rights Watch also reached out to the Ukrainian Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, asking them to fulfill their obligation to stop and prevent the posting of videos of captured Russian soldiers on social media and messaging apps, in particularly those that show them humiliated or intimidated. However, the organization has not received a response on this matter.
The West, kyiv and HRW have also reported violations by Russian forces. On March 25, the UN denounced that the high number of civilian victims and the magnitude of destruction by Russian forces indicate that they have violated International Humanitarian Law and committed war crimes.
Among the actions, indiscriminate attacks against places where civilians are sheltered, including children, such as schools and hospitals, stand out. Actions with which Moscow violates the principles of distinction and proportionality, established in IHL.
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