- Ukraine has vowed to track down the Russian troops who allegedly killed an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner.
- “We will find the murderers,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Monday.
- The Ukrainian soldier is seen in the video smoking a cigarette in a trench.
Ukraine has vowed to track down the Russian troops who allegedly killed an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war after video of the incident surfaced online.
“We will find the murderers,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Monday.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba demanded that the International Criminal Court conduct a “immediate investigation” into the case.
The Ukrainian soldier is seen in the video smoking a cigarette in a trench. He declares “glory to Ukraine” before being shot with automatic weapons.
One of the Russian soldiers, who is not seen in the video, is then heard saying “die” and expletives.
The report has not confirmed where or when the footage was shot. On Monday, it first surfaced on social media.
Although neither the Ukrainian POW nor the killers have been identified, the report has learned that he was a member of the 30 Brigade.
Russia has not responded.
Since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Kiev and its Western allies have accused Russian troops of committing mass war crimes. The allegations are denied by Russia.
President Zelensky said in his video address that “the occupiers” killed “a warrior who bravely said to their faces: ‘Glory to Ukraine!'”
“I want us all to respond to his words together, in unity: ‘Glory to the Hero! Glory to the Heroes! Glory to Ukraine!'”
Mr Zelensky was referring to a military battle cry that has become popular among millions of Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, Mr Kuleba tweeted that the footage was “another proof this was is genocidal”.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, accused Russian troops of committing war crimes by violating the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, said a criminal investigation had already been launched.
Ukrainian troops have previously been accused of torturing, raping, and killing Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In July of last year, a video surfaced showing a captured Ukrainian soldier being castrated in the Russian-occupied Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The Russian soldier filmed carrying out the attack in Severodonetsk was identified as a member of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s unit.
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