Video shows Russian drone killing white flag-waving civilians and dog, Ukraine opens war crimes investigation
Editor's note: The following article contains a graphic video.
Prosecutors in Kharkiv have opened a pre-trial war-crimes investigation after a video appeared to show a Russian FPV drone killing two unarmed civilians and their dog near the village of Kruhliakivka on Nov. 3.
The footage, released by Ukraine's 77th Airmobile Brigade, was recorded near Kruhliakivka in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast, an area now under Russian control.
There were no military targets or positions near the site of the strike, the brigade says.
According to a statement by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office on Nov. 4, the victims were walking along the road carrying a white flag, a clear sign of their civilian, non-combatant status. Both were killed instantly as a result of a targeted strike, along with their dog.
"This cynical crime is yet another example of the Russian military's systematic disregard for international humanitarian law and the right of civilians to life," the prosecutor's office said.
Deliberately targeting civilians constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
The office states that the case is being investigated under Part 2 of Article 438 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, which covers violation of the laws and customs of war, resulting in death.
According to the brigade, Russian soldiers filmed the attack with the aim of further disseminating the footage in their propaganda materials and falsely accusing Ukraine's Armed Forces.
"This crime is yet another proof that the occupiers have no concept of honor, morality, or law," the brigade added.
Since the very beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the frequent shooting of civilians has been widely documented, with the most well-known instance being the Bucha massacre, committed by Russian troops in March 2022 before their withdrawal from Kyiv Oblast.
Similar killings have also been reported recently elsewhere along the front line.
An intercepted radio communication released by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) suggested on Oct. 22 that a Russian commander ordered his soldiers to shoot civilians near the embattled city of Pokrovsk.
"Don't let anyone pass on the way, anyone with large civilian bags, just f*ck them up," a Russian commander can be heard saying in audio published by HUR.
The radio chatter was allegedly linked to a video released Oct. 20 by the 7th Corps of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces that, according to the Ukrainian military, shows the aftermath of an incident in which a Russian assault group, after infiltrating behind Ukrainian lines, shot and killed several unarmed civilians in Pokrovsk.
In September, Ukraine's Third Army Corps reported Russian troops killing two parents and using their young child as a human shield in the village of Shandryholove in northern Donetsk Oblast.
On Oct. 9, Ukraine's Security Service identified the Russian commander of the alleged shooting of three residents of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast on Oct. 2.
Francis Farrell
