Russian troops shot dead five captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers near Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast in early October, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office said on Nov. 22.
The killing of prisoners of war (POWs) is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and is classified as a serious international crime.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has launched an investigation into the killing of Ukrainian soldiers near Vuhledar, from which Ukrainian forces withdrew on Oct. 2.
Investigators believe the soldiers were shot dead on the day the Ukrainian army retreated as Russian troops stormed their positions, according to the statement.
During one of the attacks, the Russian military captured five unarmed Ukrainian servicemen.
"They (the Russian military) killed one of them in a forest belt and took four of them to the road at gunpoint, where they also shot them dead," the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office said.
The regional prosecutor's office earlier reported that in a separate incident the Russian military had shot dead two Ukrainian POWs in Donetsk Oblast's Pokrovsk district in mid-November.
They were stripped naked and shot dead, according to the prosecutors. In a picture published by the prosecutors, two blurred naked bodies are seen lying on the ground.
Law enforcement officers are currently investigating 53 criminal proceedings over the executions of 177 Ukrainian soldiers, while 37 proceedings of 109 executions were registered in 2024 alone, according to the Prosecutor General's Office.
Francis Farrell
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