The video surfaced on social media earlier this week. It shows a man in Russian military fatigues with a covered face with what appears to be a severed head placed upon a spike in the background.
The Prosecutor General's Office said the investigation involved statements from 20 victims and 30 eyewitnesses, as well as forensic evidence of those killed. The two unnamed Russian commanders have been charged in absentia with violating the laws of war.
Two years after an explosion killed at least 54 Ukrainian prisoners of war and injured over 150 more at a penal colony in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast on July 28-29, 2022, no one has been held accountable as Russia continues to block investigation efforts.
Since February, Russian forces have steadily advanced across multiple sectors of the front in Donetsk Oblast. They have occupied villages previously liberated by Ukraine, wiped out entire towns, and introduced new threats to the region's overall defense. Alongside Chasiv Yar, Niu York, and other towns, Russia aims to capture Toretsk,
Liza Dmitrieva, a four-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome, was walking with her mother to a speech therapy appointment in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on July 14, 2022. As her mother filmed her playfully pushing her stroller, she didn’t know that those were to be the last
“How should I manage this anger? Or should I?” Ukrainian author Oleksandr Mykhed asks himself following the start of Russia’s all-out war. In his book “The Language of War,” the first major Ukrainian prose work published by a Penguin imprint, Mykhed recounts how the lives of Ukrainians were upended
Editor’s note: This story was sponsored by Common Sense Communications, a Ukrainian non-profit organization specializing in pro-democracy strategic communications. One of their ongoing projects is “Voices of Civilian Hostages,” which aims to attract the world’s attention to the issue of Russia’s illegal abduction of Ukrainian civilians. Yaroslav
Representing families of 18 of the Ukrainian victims, the NGOs said that the case could set a precedent applicable to thousands more civilians killed during Russia's full-scale war.
Editor's note: Some of the following images are graphic in nature and might be disturbing. For Kyiv residents, Monday morning started with loud explosions throughout the city. Russia launched a large-scale missile attack targeting the capital as well as cities in Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk oblasts on the morning of July
The SBU allege that Panchenko, the commander of the 159th Fighter Aviation Regiment of Russia's Western Military District, ordered air strikes on various targets along the eastern front.
Ukraine has no plans currently to exchange Vadim Shishimarin — the first Russian soldier convicted of war crimes after the start of the full-scale invasion — in a prisoner swap with Moscow, the Prosecutor General's Office said.
In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian delegate Pavlo Frolov said the document also "defines the decolonization of the Russian Federation as a necessary prerequisite for establishing a lasting peace."
Russia's recent attack on Niu-York comes as Moscow steps up its offensive on the nearby town of Toretsk. Russian troops have slowly advanced in the area and intensified their attacks against civilians remaining in what has long been a less intense sector of the front line.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted three resolutions related to Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine on June 26, said Maria Mezentseva, the head of the Ukrainian delegation.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on June 25 that it has issued arrest warrants for ex Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, now secretary of Russia's Security Council, and Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian army, for war crimes against Ukraine. The charges relate to Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the ICC said.
A video taken in the second half of May captured Russian troops executing four surrendering Ukrainian soldiers near Robotyne, a front-line village in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Russia is accused of committing numerous war crimes during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including the execution of captive Ukrainian soldiers.
In a post on social media, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said his office has received information that Russian commanders had given orders "not to capture Ukrainian servicemen, but instead to kill them with inhuman cruelty - by beheading."
Editor’s Note: This story was produced in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption and Reporting Project (OCCRP) and is published by both organizations. The story is based on the Kyiv Independent’s latest investigative documentary, “He Came Back.” The day after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine,
Cluster munitions have been found at the site of a Russian missile attack in Kyiv Oblast, the region's police reported on June 12.
Russian forces launched three glide bombs at Kharkiv on June 10, injuring eight people, local authorities reported.
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a note of protest to Yerevan after an Armenian delegation visited Bucha earlier in June, Russian state-run media outlet TASS reported on June 9.
The Kyiv Independent's journalists have identified two Russian soldiers who were involved in the rape of two women during the occupation of Kyiv and Kherson oblasts in March 2022. The findings have served as the basis for the Kyiv Independent's documentary about Russian sexual violence in occupied parts of Ukraine
Sexual violence is one of the weapons Russian soldiers systematically use against Ukrainians. The Kyiv Independent presents “He Came Back” – a documentary that investigates sexual violence as war crimes.
Russian Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, the former commander of the Dnieper group of forces, is suspected of ordering the destruction of the occupied Kakhovka dam last year, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on June 6.
At least 551 children have been killed during the full-scale invasion, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said on June 4.
Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on June 2 that he appealed to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to investigate videos showing beatings, humiliation, and threats of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian soldiers in the Kharkiv direction.
Qatar acts as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia to bring back Ukrainian children illegally held by Russia.
Editor's note: This article features graphic photos. Russian forces destroyed one of Ukraine's largest printing presses amid a mass missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on the morning of May 23. According to regional authorities, Russia used S-300 missiles, fired from inside Russian territory, to strike the factory belonging
Ukrainian law enforcement has identified 357 Russian servicemen and occupation officials suspected of war crimes, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin posted on X.
Five people were killed and nine injured in Russian strikes on villages in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast, local authorities reported on May 19.
The attack comes as Russia continues to target Ukraine's energy infrastructure with various types of weapons across the country.
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