The Financial Times reports that its investigative documentary has uncovered evidence suggesting Russian executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) are not isolated incidents but part of a broader military policy. Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating over 130 suspected executions in 2024 alone, while forensic analysis has identified a Russian soldier involved in one such killing.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, its forces have committed war crimes against Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Following the full-scale invasion in February 2022, reported cases surged. In early February 2025, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission documented an “alarming rise” in Russian executions of captured Ukrainian soldiers, with 79 cases recorded since August 2023. In December, Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets confirmed that since 2022, at least 177 Ukrainian POWs have been executed by Russian troops.
The investigation reveals the suspected identity of a Russian soldier who was filmed participating in the mass execution of surrendered Ukrainian soldiers and raises questions about the chain of command and the Kremlin’s role in these war crimes.
Ukrainian prosecutors have launched investigations into 43 execution cases involving 133 suspected deaths in 2024 alone, according to Yurii Belousov, head of Ukraine’s war crimes department in the office of the prosecutor-general.
“It’s definitely part of the policy. It’s a system that we see,” Belousov told the FT, describing the investigation of Russian executions as their “priority number one.”
Ukraine has launched 125,000 war crimes proceedings for various offenses since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The FT identified Oleg Yakovlev, a 32-year-old soldier in Russia’s 30th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, as having posted the now-deleted video of a mass execution on his YouTube channel in January.
The FT documentary mapped more than 30 suspected execution cases, many captured on drone and mobile phone footage, showing incidents taking place all along the frontline. Prosecutors and human rights organizations say this is evidence that the executions are not the actions of rogue units but part of a systematic policy.
“On any territory where they have a fight now with our guys, our soldiers are all at high risk of being executed,” said Belousov. “Again, it’s a sign of the policy.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) commented on FT’s report, stating it supports their “long-held assessment that Russian military commanders are either complicit in or directly enabling subordinates to execute Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in clear violation of international law.“
Global Rights Compliance President Wayne Jordash, who is assisting Ukrainian investigations into POW executions, told the FT that Russia is pursuing a “strategy of criminality” in Ukraine, including torturing, sexually assaulting, and otherwise abusing residents in occupied Ukraine, according to ISW.
Jordash noted that international law states that individuals who fail to prevent war crimes are also culpable for said war crimes, and that Russian officials calling for POW executions are violating international law.
The investigation highlights that Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the 30th Motorized Rifle Brigade the “Guards” honorific title in July 2024 for “bravery and heroism,” despite the unit being implicated in multiple war crimes according to Ukrainian authorities.
Related:
- Reuters: US funding freeze threatens probes into Russia’s war crimes
- UN monitors report “alarming rise” in Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs
- Ukraine’s police shows faces of Russian soldiers who murdered civilians in Bucha
- US Congress issues resolution to recognize Russian actions in Ukraine as genocide
- Russians execute four more Ukrainian prisoners of war near Pokrovsk
- Russian military execute five Ukrainian POWs in Zaporizhzhia Oblast
- Ukrainian intel: Russian forces executed five captured Ukrainian soldiers near Vuhledar
