On 3 August 2024, Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets called on the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to formally document this blatant violation of international humanitarian law by Russian forces against a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
The human rights commissioner’s plea comes after a photograph showing the dismembered body of the Ukrainian soldier emerged online. The graphic photograph shared by a Russian Wagner Group-linked Telegram channel shows the allegedly Ukrainian POW decapitated and mutilated.
Back in April, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine reported it was aware of 54 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) executed by Russian forces. Multiple cases of execution of Ukrainian POWs were exposed when Russian soldiers or military bloggers boasted of their actions by publishing footage of the executions on Telegram messenger.
“Given the horrific footage, I urgently appealed to the ICRC and the UN to document another human rights violation by the terrorist country; to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to verify the identity of the killed prisoner and the fact of this crime,” Lubinets said.
Lubinets labeled the act not merely as a breach of the Geneva Conventions but as a stark manifestation of “inhuman behavior.” He emphasized the need for urgent international intervention to hold the perpetrators accountable.
The Ombudsman emphasized that it is the Russian state that is responsible for the treatment of prisoners of war, as they are in its hands.
“That is, the responsibility for killing and maiming lies not only with Russian soldiers, but with the Russian Federation itself,” Lubinets explained.
He also emphasized that the war unleashed by the Russians is a hybrid war. By posting such photos and videos on social media and committing such actions, Russia wants to intimidate Ukrainian military and civilians, according to him.
Related:
- Ukraine probes execution of POWs by Russian forces near Robotyne
- Russia struck Kyiv children’s hospital with Kh-101 missile, OSINT analysis indicates
- Ukraine calls on Red Cross to help return bodies of teens allegedly killed by Russians
- This winter, 32 Ukrainian POWs were executed by Russian forces, UN report reveals
- 95 Ukrainian prisoners of war return from Russian captivity, including Azovstal defenders
- OSCE declares Russia’s actions in Ukraine genocide, urges decolonization
- Russia’s war crimes in Chernihiv Oblast: “They were beaten, tortured & executed…”
