Videos are circulating on social media in which Russian soldiers appear to be beating Ukrainian prisoners of war. The authenticity of the videos has not been confirmed.
Anni Huttunen,
Yrjö Kokkonen
18:15•Updated 18:19
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi condemns in the strongest terms the championing videos that spread on social media. In the videos, the heads of Ukrainian soldiers have been cut off or will be cut off. It can be concluded from the videos that Russian soldiers are behind the atrocities, but their authenticity has not been verified.
– No one in the world can fail to notice how easy it is for beasts to kill. We will not forget, we will not forgive the murderers, he said in his voice message.
Zelenskyi asks world leaders to respond to the videos.
– Everyone has to act. Every leader. Don’t wait for this to be forgotten, Zelenskyi has commented.
The videos have caused consternation around Western countries. President of the European Council Charles Michel describes the videos as horrific, Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki again write (you switch to another service) On Twitter, an evil kingdom has been reborn in the east.
Russia is too According to the BBC (you will switch to another service) commented on the videos, calling them monstrous, but wants their authenticity verified.
Another video shot maybe last summer
The more recent of the videos appeared on a Russian social media channel on April 8. There, it quickly gathered another thousand likes.
The video was apparently filmed near Bahmut. It would seem to feature two Ukrainian prisoners of war, whose necks and possibly also their hands have been severed. Next to it is a destroyed armored personnel carrier.
The second video is older, probably from last summer. The image in the video has been blurred, but it shows how a Russian soldier apparently cuts off the prisoner’s head with a knife. The sound at the beginning of the video may mean that the prisoner is still alive when the gruesome execution begins.
The Institute for the Study of War said in its report on Monday that, according to its information, Wagner continues his war crimes in the Bahmut area by cutting the necks of his Ukrainian prisoners.
has seen the videos, but won’t publish them because of the creepy content that violates international laws.