Russian troops have allegedly killed three Ukrainian prisoners of war in the southwest of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets wrote on his Telegram channel on Jan. 6.
According to DeepState, a crowd-sourced information-gathering website on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Russian forces tied the soldiers' hands and shot them in the back of the head.
"We are once again witnessing atrocities that demonstrate Russia's true face," the ombudsman said.
Reports of murders, torture, and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war are received regularly by Ukrainian authorities and have spiked in recent months. Most cases were recorded in the embattled Donetsk Oblast.
"On Jan. 3, near the village of Neskuchne, Volnovakha district, Donetsk Oblast, Russian soldiers committed a heinous crime — they allegedly shot three Ukrainian prisoners of war," Lubinets said.
The ombudsman added he would immediately appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations.
Russian forces have summarily executed 109 Ukrainian POWs in 2024 alone, Lubinets said in December. Executing prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Sonya Bandouil
