The Dec. 17 killing of Russian Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov in Moscow — reportedly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) — is the most high-profile assassination of a Russian military official to date. It's not the first one, however. Military officials, propagandists, and those seen as collaborators by Kyiv have been assassinated
"The video shows how Russian soldiers shot five captured Ukrainian defenders," Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said, referring to drone footage released by the 110th Mechanized Brigade earlier on Dec. 22 that appears to have captured Russian troops shooting surrendered Ukrainian soldiers from behind.
Key developments on Dec. 20: * Russian An-72 military transport plane damaged in blast near Moscow, Ukraine's intel claims * Fire, casualties reported in Kyiv amid Russian missile attack * Ukraine charges Russian general with killing Reuters employee in Kramatorsk * Russia captures 'Uspenivka pocket,' Ukraine denies reports of failed breakout * Ukraine begins
The strike killed Ryan Evans, a British security adviser for Reuters, and injured six others, including two Reuters journalists.
The year 2024 proved to be another landmark for books about Ukraine and Ukrainian literature in translation, with a continued trend in publishing in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Unsurprisingly, Russia’s ongoing full-scale war against Ukraine was the most common topic among these works. Whether through incisive on-the-ground reportage that
"In 2024 alone, we can confirm that Russian troops shot 109 Ukrainian prisoners of war," Lubinets said. Reports of murders, torture, and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war are received regularly by Ukrainian authorities.
Serhii Yevsiukov, the former head of Russia's Olenivka prisoner of war (POW) camp in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, was allegedly killed in a car bombing in occupied Donetsk, the Russian media reported on Dec. 9.
A Finnish court began trial on Dec. 5 for Yan Petrovsky, a Russian neo-Nazi mercenary, for war crimes he allegedly committed while leading a Russian neo-Nazi unit in eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2015.
The chamber was located on Belarusian government-owned property in the town of Naroulia, not far from the border with Ukraine, the Belarusian Investigative Center reported
Russian forces apparently shot five unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in Donetsk Oblast earlier this November, the Prosecutor General's Office said on Nov. 26, launching a war crime investigation.
According to the report, at around 6 p.m. on Nov. 21, Russian soldiers entered an apartment in a residential area of Toretsk and "deliberately" opened fire with automatic weapons on three civilians.
Pictures shared on the prosecutor's office's Telegram channel show a woman in a pink jacket walking on the outskirts of the village, with a subsequent picture showing her lying on the ground with her face in the mud.
"The occupiers have no limit to cynicism and cruelty," Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.
Anton Sopov, 21, and Stanislav Rau, 28 were convicted of killing a family of nine, including two children, in occupied Donetsk Oblast. The case marks a rare instance of Russian authorities holding its own troops accountable for war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine.
The Russian military carried out at least 36 double-tap strikes against Ukraine from the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 to August 2024, killing over 100 people, according to a recent report by Truth Hounds, a Ukrainian non-profit organization that documents and investigates war crimes. Twenty such attacks
The Kyiv Independent in June identified Mykola Senenko as raping a woman in Kherson Oblast in March 2022.
"The alleged shooting of two women by the occupiers in Selydove is a war crime," Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said. "I immediately sent letters to international organizations: UN and ICRC. I am waiting for a response."
Key developments on Oct. 27: * Russia transporting North Korean troops to front lines in civilian trucks, military intelligence says * Russian soldiers suspected of murdering 2, injuring 1 civilian in embattled Selydove * Russia had 'partial success' at Levadne but Ukraine holds dominant heights, military says * Russia claims downing 51 Ukrainian drones,
Russian soldiers in the Donetsk Oblast town of Selydove have likely opened fire against civilians on several occasions, killing at least two women and injuring one person, the regional prosecutor's office said on Oct. 27.
On the morning of Nov. 20, 2023, Russians came to Raisa Rusnak’s home, looking for her 28-year-old son Ruslan. Four masked men threw him onto the ground and began beating him. "Guys, what have I done to you? What do you want from me?" Ruslan shouted. Those were the
According to Dmytro Lubinets, the actual number of such cases is likely much higher since it is difficult to document Russian war crimes without supporting evidence such as videos of the executions.
Russian pro-war milbloggers have reacted to yet more reports of Ukrainian POWs being executed by Moscow’s forces by seeking to justify the killings, while some have even called for more. In the latest case of what appears to be an increasingly common occurrence, Russian troops reportedly shot dead nine
"The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and an international crime. A criminal case has been opened over the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder," Kostin posted on X.
The shootings are said to have occurred on Oct. 10, Deepstate reported, citing sources in Ukraine's First Tank Brigade.
The Kyiv Independent's investigative documentary "He Came Back," which uncovers sexual crimes committed during the Russian occupation of Kyiv and Kherson oblasts in early 2022, won the Best Film award at the Press Play Prague film festival on Oct. 12.
Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, 27, was about to be released from Russian captivity and returned home, when the news of her death broke out on Oct. 10, shocking Ukraine and the world. Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territory. More than half a year later, Russia's Defense
Russian forces appear to have shot 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Donetsk Oblast, the largest recorded case of mass execution of surrendered soldiers on the battlefield, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said on Oct. 1.
One suspect was identified by the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit in the documentary "Uprooted."
Russia has committed 137,000 war crimes in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the United for Justice conference in Kyiv on Sept. 11.
Russian prisoners of war (POWs) held in Ukrainian camps are no longer allowed to make phone calls to their relatives, Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced on national television on Sept. 7.
Earlier, a video circulated on Telegram that showed three Ukrainian soldiers coming out of a basement with their hands up. The Ukrainians were then apprehended by Russian soldiers, placed face down on the ground and summarily shot.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) charged in absentia three Russian officials with charges related to organizing the round up and torture of civilians in occupied Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the agency announced on Aug. 29.
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