A video appears to show Ukrainian soldiers fatally shooting a captured Russian soldier near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
The footage, posted to social media Monday, shows a group of Ukrainian troops with roughly four Russian soldiers covered in blood and tied up while lying on a road when one of the Russian soldiers starts to move.
“Look. He’s still alive — he’s gasping,” one of the Ukrainian soldiers says in the video, pointing the filmmaker toward the prisoner, according to Politico. The soldier, whose head is covered by a jacket, is then shot multiple times until he stops moving. Those lying on the ground can be seen wearing white armbands, which are commonly worn by Russian troops.
BLINKEN CONTINUES CLEANUP OF BIDEN’S PUTIN ‘CANNOT REMAIN IN POWER’ REMARK
The video was independently verified by the New York Times and was filmed north of the village of Dmytrivka, apparently after Ukrainian forces ambushed a Russian column March 30. Ukrainian officials have pledged to look into the matter.
“Firstly, such incidents must be properly investigated until the motives and circumstances are clarified,” Mikhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a statement to BBC. “Secondly, Russia should end its genocidal anti-Ukrainian propaganda and restore its army’s understanding of the rules and customs of war.”
Graphic videos made the rounds on social media in late March, reportedly showing beaten and bloodied captured Russian soldiers being shot in the legs by Ukrainian forces. That footage is also going to be investigated, said senior presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The footage comes as Russian military forces, more than a month into the invasion of Ukraine, have been accused of committing war crimes, including after the bodies of dead civilians were found lying on the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, after the invaders left. Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied responsibility, but the New York Times reported that satellite images conflict with those claims.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Russia is trying to turn Ukrainians into “silent slaves” and detailed the destruction that has taken place in his country since the start of the invasion.
