From: Human Rights in Ukraine 🇺🇦 by Halya Coynash
It is unclear whether the Russians hope that the two separate videos from near Avdiivka and Vesele will demoralize Ukraine’s defenders or whether they simply like boasting of their barbaric war crimes
On two separate occasions in Donetsk oblast, Russian soldiers appear to have shot and killed unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war. Ukraine’s prosecutor has initiated criminal investigationsinto both of what, if confirmed, would unequivocally constitute war crimes.
On 18 February, Ukraine’s Ground Forces posted satellite footage which appeals to show a Russian soldier walking up to two Ukrainian prisoners of war and shooting them at close range. This was, they wrote, the latest demonstration by the Russian invaders of their contempt for international humanitarian law. A spokesperson for the Khortysia Operational Strategic Forces later informed Ukrainska Pravda that the Ukrainian defenders had been shot near the village of Vesele (Donetsk oblast).
On that same day, war correspondent Yury Butusov and Slidstvo.org reported that the Russians had shot at and probably killed six wounded prisoners of war near Avdiivka. Butusov posted a list with six names of seriously wounded Ukrainian defenders from the 110th Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces who had remained at the Zenith stronghold near Avdiivka on 14 February as they could not move without help and there were no vehicles available to evacuate them. Zenith became totally surrounded by the invaders and there ceased to be any possibility of rescuing them. A video was posted by the Russians on 16 February showing the bodies of five Ukrainian soldiers piled into the water near the stronghold. Relatives had recognized the bodies of three of the men: Andriy Dubnytsky; 29-year-old Heorhiy Pavlov and Ivan Zhytnyk (30). Butusov explained that the other three bodies were not possible to recognize from the video footage, but it certainly does appear that the Russians killed six prisoners of war, at least five of whom had been unable to retreat due to grave injuries…
Voice of Ukraine 