Russia accelerating executions of Ukrainian POWs: UN

A report finds that Russian troops committed 79 executions in the last six months or so.

The United Nations has expressed “alarm” over a sharp rise in reported executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian armed forces.

According to a report published on Monday by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, 79 executions took place in 24 separate incidents since August 2024.

“Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were in physical custody of the Russian armed forces were shot dead on the spot,” the report said.

The mission obtained footage and photographs published by both Ukrainian and Russian sources documenting the dead bodies. Interviews with witnesses were also conducted, and incidents were geolocated and matched to areas where Russian forces were operating.

The UN mission also documented the execution of a “wounded and incapacitated” Russian soldier by the Ukrainian troops.

‘War crimes’

Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of committing war crimes, including the killing of captured personnel, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN mission, said such incidents do not “occur in a vacuum”, noting that public figures in Russia had previously publicly called for “inhumane treatment and even execution” of Ukrainian soldiers.

“Combined with broad amnesty laws, such statements have the potential to incite or encourage unlawful behaviour,” Bell added.

The report emphasises that under international humanitarian law, calls for “no survivors” after the war are prohibited, with no mercy orders being a “serious violation” of international humanitarian law and a “war crime”.

“All allegations of execution of captured Ukrainian military personnel and public statements calling for, or condoning, such actions must be investigated,” said Bell.

Last month, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case against Russia after footage emerged of Russian soldiers executing six Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk.

“The shooting of prisoners of war is a serious violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and is classified as a grave international crime,” the statement read. “Investigative actions are currently being conducted to establish all the circumstances of the crime and the persons involved in its commission.”