Did Ukrainian troops execute a Russian prisoner of war?

A recent video, first verified by the New York Times, shows a group of soldiers wearing Ukrainian patches and blue armbands. They’re on the road after a firefight. CNN has geolocated the video and confirmed it to be in the Kyiv region. In the video, the bodies of four men wearing Russian uniforms can be seen on the pavement. Three have head wounds with blood pooled around the fourth Russian’s body, a jacket pulled over his head, leaving him seemingly rasping. 

A man says, in Russian, he’s alive and gasping. Then, the video shows a soldier pointing a rifle and firing two shots at the body, pausing and letting off a third. The body stops moving. 

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The person who’s narrating into the camera turns it to show a Russian infantry vehicle akin to the ones used by invading forces in Ukraine. The man claims it to be a small trophy. 

A voice off-camera says “Slava Ukrayini!” or glory to Ukraine, and a bearded man steps into the frame replying “Glory the heroes”. 

Is Ukraine walking the talk on war crimes? 

The time and date of the video remain unclear, but it first appeared on a pro-Russian Telegram channel. Also, the location matches that of a video put up on the Twitter account of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. Posted on April 2, the video shows a Russian column that’s been blasted. The caption reads “Handiwork of Ukrainian defenders in the Kyiv region”, CNN reported. 

However, a different video of the same scene that was filmed from a different angle, appeared on UNIAN, a Ukrainian news agency, on March 30. The same bearded man can be seen and the caption says they’re part of the Georgian Legion, a volunteer group fighting for Ukraine to free Kyiv of Russian presence. 

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Notably, Ukraine has several volunteers from all over the world fighting the war, many of whom have extensive combat experience. 

This video has come on the heels of the gruesome discovery of civilians in mass graves in Bucha, prompting Ukraine and the global community to come down harder on Russia for committing war crimes. However, if it were proven that Ukrainian troops killed a Russian prisoner of war, they’d be in violation of the Geneva Conventions too, and partake in the guilt of committing war crimes. 

The Kuleba conundrum 

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba was asked about the video at a NATO press conference in Brussels. He said, “I haven’t seen it. I heard about it. I want to reassure you that Ukrainian army observes the rules of warfare”, CNN reported. 

Kuleba continued, “There might be isolated incidents of the violation of these rules and they will be definitely investigated. But I wanted to double check the date of this of this video, because you should understand one thing now (or) you will not understand it. I’m sorry, but you don’t understand how it feels after seeing pictures on Bucha. Talking to people who escaped, knowing that that person you know was raped four days in a row. And when she finally made it to Kyiv, she was directly taken to the psychiatrist”. 

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The Ukrainian foreign minister concluded, “This is not an excuse to those who violate the rules of warfare on either side or the frontline. But there are some things which we simply can’t understand”. 

Will there be justice for this war crime? 

If Ukrainian troops are found guilty of the war crime captured in this video, they’d face prosecution and consequences for their wartime conduct. 

Similarly, if volunteers are guilty of war crimes, they too can be prosecuted, the Economic Times reported citing experts.