Ukraine appeals to UN, Red Cross over alleged video of beheaded Ukrainian soldier

Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Aug. 16 he had appealed to the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over a video of Russian troops allegedly displaying the head of a decapitated Ukrainian soldier.

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 put upon a spike in the background.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately verified.

Ukrainska Pravda's undisclosed source said that Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office is still investigating the footage. The outlet also claimed it had obtained an intercepted audio of a Russian soldier ordering the decapitation of four dead Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainska Pravda did not publish the recording.

"(Russia) uses such videos to intimidate and demoralize Ukrainians. However, this only strengthens our desire to bring everyone who commits such inhuman atrocities to justice!" Lubinets said on his Telegram channel.

The ombudsman called it "another violation of international humanitarian law by Russia."

DeepState, a Ukrainian crowd-sourced monitoring site, claimed the video was shot at the Kolotilovka border checkpoint in Russia's Belgorod Oblast following an unsuccessful Ukrainian attack on Aug. 12.

Ukraine's cross-border incursions have been ongoing since Aug. 6, focusing on Kursk Oblast but with hostilities reported also in neighboring Belgorod Oblast.

Kolotilovka lies on the Russian side of the Russia-Ukraine border crossing, roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Ukraine's Sumy, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Russia's Belgorod, and 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of the administrative border with Kursk Oblast.

The perpetrators were soldiers of Russia's 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, which has suffered heavy losses in Ukraine and had to restore its ranks with mobilized conscripts, DeepState said.

The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.

Back in June, a similar case surfaced after what appeared to be footage of a severed head of a Ukrainian soldier displayed on an armored vehicle appeared online.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said at the time that he had received information that Russian commanders had given orders "not to capture Ukrainian servicemen, but instead to kill them with inhuman cruelty - by beheading."

Alleged footage of several beheaded Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) also appeared in 2023.

Viral videos show pattern of Russian atrocities throughout the war

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence. At least several Ukrainian servicemen have been beheaded by Russian troops, as alleged by two videos shared online this week. The revelation comes as yet another instance of exceptional brutality demonstrated – and filmed – by Russian f…

The Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet