Prosecutors investigating executions of 54 Ukrainian POWs by Russia

At least 54 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) have been executed by Russian soldiers, the head of the War Crimes Department in Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office, Yurii Belousov, said on April 9.

A total of 27 criminal investigations into the executions are underway, Belousov said on national television. Presumably, some of these investigations concern group executions.

There have been a number of reports recently about Russian soldiers killing Ukrainian POWs in the embattled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts.

The Prosecutor Office on April 7 opened an investigation into a video that purportedly showed Russian troops shooting three captured and unarmed Ukrainian soldiers in Kherson Oblast.

Belousov confirmed that they were executed near Krynky, a village on the predominantly occupied part of Kherson Oblast east of the Dnipro River.

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Prosecutors are investigating the involvement of the Russian command, "which is responsible for such actions" as well, Belousov said.

"We are talking not only about unit commanders but also about the highest military and political leadership. Because this is not a single case, but evidence of Russian policy," Belousov added.

As of March 18, Ukraine had collected evidence on over 128,000 victims of war crimes, according to Veronika Plotnikova, the head of the Coordinating Center for Support of Victims and Witnesses of the Prosecutor General's Office.

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