The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that Ukraine had executed at least 10 Russian prisoners of war, accusing Kyiv of committing war crimes that Moscow said the West was ignoring and for which it promised to prosecute President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

This is how the Russian ministry reacted to a video circulating on Russian social networks showing the execution of some prisoners of war.

As News.ro reports with reference to Reuters, the filming took place in Makiivka, Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine. The video shows Russian soldiers allegedly lying on the ground after surrendering to armed men wearing yellow armbands. Later, automatic shooting is heard, and then the bodies of the executed, at least 12, are removed.

The authenticity of the listing cannot be verified. It is not clear when the video was taken or who filmed it, according to Reuters.

• Read also: VIDEO Tragedy in two acts: A group of 10 Russians decided to surrender to Ukrainians. Then one of them made a decision that cost them their whole lives

The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that the video shows “the deliberate and methodical killing of more than 10 immobilized Russian servicemen by degenerate Ukrainian soldiers.”

“This brutal murder of Russian servicemen is neither the first nor the only war crime,” the Russian Ministry of Defense commented.

“This is a common practice among the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is actively supported by the Kyiv regime and openly ignored by its Western patrons,” the ministry headed by Serhii Shoigu accuses.

Instead, Ukrainian prisoners of war are treated “in accordance with all requirements”, claims Moscow

According to Moscow, the video is a sign of the “disgusting character” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and his “regime” in Kyiv and promises that he will eventually be tried for war crimes, The Guardian reports. Zelenskyi “will answer to the tribunal of history and the Russian and Ukrainian people,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

Instead, Moscow claims, the Ukrainian servicemen who surrendered this week are being held “in accordance with all the requirements of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.”

So far, Kyiv has not reacted to these accusations, but Ukraine, in turn, has repeatedly accused Russia of war crimes, which Moscow denies.

Earlier this week, OHCHR (the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), the UN group that monitors human rights during the war in Ukraine, accused both sides of violating the rights of prisoners of war.

“To date, OHCHR has interviewed 159 prisoners of war (139 men and 20 women) held by the Russian Federation (including affiliated armed groups) and 175 prisoners of war (all men) held by Ukraine. OHCHR has identified patterns of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war held by the Russian Federation (including affiliated armed groups), including during detention. OHCHR has also documented violations by Ukrainian state agents against prisoners of war, revealing a pattern of ill-treatment during the initial stages of capture and evacuation, as well as sporadic cases of torture and ill-treatment during the later stages of detention.” mentions the report of the UN body.

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro