Russian troops killed 2 Ukrainian POWs near Pokrovsk, prosecutors say

Russian troops have killed two Ukrainian prisoners of war in Donetsk Oblast's Pokrovsk District, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office said on Nov. 20.

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.

“On Nov. 10, the enemy stormed our fortifications near the village of Novodmytrivka, Pokrovsk district,” the prosecutors said. “After the Russian army captured two Ukrainian soldiers, they forced the men to strip naked. After being led at gunpoint through a forest plantation, the prisoners were shot dead.”

The prosecutor’s office said that it is also investigating whether Russian soldiers killed three more Ukrainian prisoners.

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 embattled Donetsk Oblast.

Russian forces had executed at least 124 Ukrainian prisoners of war since 2022 as of Nov. 6. 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.

On one occasion, a photo of an apparently executed Ukrainian soldier with a sword in his chest and the inscription "For Kursk" has appeared on social media, with remnants of gray tape visible on the soldier's hand.

Executing prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Faces of Torture

The Kyiv IndependentYevheniia Motorevska