Russian troops suspected of executing Ukrainian POWs in Kursk Oblast, ombudsman says

Russian forces are suspected of summarily executing a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported on Nov. 20.

Lubinets said that the prisoners were "surrounded" but gave no other details, in particular on the number of victims.

Reports of murders, torture, and ill-treatment of Ukrainian POWs are received regularly by Ukrainian authorities and have spiked in recent months.

"I have sent letters to the U.N. and the ICRC about this crime," Lubinets said, reporting the suspected crime on his Telegram channel.

"The international community must act immediately. The occupying country has once again violated the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war," he added.

The Armyinform news outlet ties this announcement to a video taken by a drone camera purporting to show the execution.

It shows 10 unarmed people lying on the ground with at least five armed men standing over them.  At one point, they start shooting at the people on the ground.

Heavy fighting has been ongoing in the Russian border region of Kursk since Ukraine launched an offensive there in early August.

Earlier the same day, the Prosecutor General's Office announced another shooting of captured Ukrainian military personnel by Russian troops in the Pokrovsk area in Ukraine.

Former Prosecutor General Kostin on Oct. 15 called the killing of captured Ukrainian service members in captivity a "deliberate policy of the Russian Federation."

The execution of prisoners of war constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Convention.

Russian forces had executed at least 124 Ukrainian prisoners of war since 2022 as of Nov. 6, authorities said at the time, while the number continues to grow. On top of that, at least 177 Ukrainian prisoners have died in Russian captivity, according to a representative of the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.