Executions of Ukrainian POWs surge in 2024

The image of a soldier impaled by a sword sent shockwaves through Ukraine. It happened last September in Kursk, the Russian province invaded by Ukrainian troops under the orders of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The soldier was found lying on the ground, with a medieval-style sword sticking out of his body. Marks on his wrists suggested he had been tied up. This is one of 104 reported cases by the Attorney General of Ukraine of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) executed by Russian forces. Alarmingly, 80% of these incidents have occurred in 2024.

Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has repeatedly urged the United Nations to take action in response to the mounting visual evidence of these war crimes. Cases have surged since August, coinciding with Ukraine’s operation in the Russian region of Kursk, with 40 executions confirmed in the last two months.

EL PAÍS has gathered visual evidence of 38 such incidents. On October 1, images surfaced on social media showing the execution of 16 Ukrainian soldiers, the largest number confirmed to date, in the Donetsk province. The most recent incident occurred on October 18 at the Pokrovsk front in Donetsk, where a video captured two soldiers being shot at point-blank range after surrendering.

The Attorney General’s Office has indicated that the upward trend in such crimes began in November 2023 and has continued to rise since then. This trend started last February, with visual evidence emerging of the murder of six soldiers who surrendered in Avdiivka. Last week, five of the bodies were repatriated to their families in a body exchange, according to Slidstvo. Lubinets says that this represents only the tip of the iceberg, as these are only the crimes that can be substantiated by visual evidence.

On October 1, the United Nations Human Rights Office published a report on prisoners of war in the conflict. The report states that “Russian authorities have subjected Ukrainian POWs to torture, ill-treatment and inhumane conditions in a widespread and systematic manner.” With respect to Russian POWs, the U.N. office reports that half of the Russian prisoners experienced ill-treatment at the time of their arrest and during their transfer to prison.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank focused on the invasion, stated in an October 21 report that the rise in executions by Russian troops reflects a “systematic” procedure. “The apparent systematic perpetration of war crimes throughout the entire theater suggests that Russian forces continue to operate at a low level of discipline, and that Russian field commanders are doing nothing to prevent their subordinates from engaging in such criminal behaviors, or may even be encouraging them,” it argues.

Russian propaganda used to justify executions

Russian propaganda presents a sanitized version of the war, depicting it as a special military operation while censoring images of bloodshed and mutilation for the Russian audience. However, Russian Telegram channels, much like their Ukrainian counterparts, are filled with videos showcasing the brutality of the front lines, with some even advertising clear war crimes.

These recordings often go viral firs on soldiers’ WhatsApp and Telegram contacts, primarily due to their shocking nature. For instance, one video depicts the execution of a Ukrainian sniper captured in an undisclosed location. Both the soldiers and drone operators in these videos are viewed as some of the most reviled enemies on the battlefield. In the footage, Russian soldiers subdue the sniper, dragging him through the mud and slitting his throat as he screams in agony.

Russian pro-war channels typically showcase less graphic images, such as the destruction of enemy armor or bombings, but they occasionally leak evidence of war crimes. The Telegram channel of the Rusich reconnaissance group — a unit formerly associated with the Wagner Group — is known for its neo-Nazi affiliations, as its leader openly embraces extremist symbols like the kolovrat, an eight-armed swastika, and the Black Sun emblem associated with the Schutzstaffel (SS). On October 20, the group shared footage of a chemical attack on a Ukrainian trench, declaring, “We fuck the khokhols” — a derogatory term for Ukrainians — “with chloropicrin.” This agent, considered asphyxiating due to its ability to irritate the lungs, eyes, and skin, as well as cause vomiting, nausea, or diarrhea, is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Meanwhile, the Telegram channels of war correspondents and analysts have acknowledged and even applauded the executions of Ukrainian soldiers. These profiles, which boast hundreds of thousands to nearly a million followers, have occasionally met with Putin to update him on the situation at the front and are closely monitored by the Kremlin — especially following the crisis sparked by Wagner’s criticism of the Russian high command in 2023. Some channels are directly funded by Moscow to carry out its propaganda campaign both domestically and abroad. Their comments regarding war crimes have not gone unnoticed by Russian authorities.

“Such shootings are by no means uncommon on both sides of the front,” Rybar, a pro-Kremlin military analysis channel on Telegram, posted to its more than 1.3 million followers. “Prisoners often become an annoying burden: it is not always possible to assign a guard to them when launching an assault,” he attempted to justify, despite the fact that the images shared by the channel itself depicted the cold-blooded execution of Ukrainian soldiers, with their bodies lined up, hands on their heads, and nearly naked after their uniforms were discarded in a separate pile.

“Fighting from the front lines while demanding humanity is acceptable until you find yourself in a ‘you vs. them’ situation,” said Rybar. The message asserted that prisoners are taken only when it is convenient. It further exempted Russia from the obligation to adhere to international law, stating: “When it comes to our former territories and the invasion of the Russian border, all humanitarian nonsense can be set aside.” The channel also claims that the Kremlin has labeled Ukrainian troops as “terrorists,” justifying their execution without trial, despite the fact that the death penalty is prohibited in Russia.

According to U.S. intelligence, Rybar is funded by the state-owned Rostec corporation. The U.S. Treasury Department has offered up to $10 million for any information regarding the individuals behind the channel, which it accuses of interfering in the upcoming U.S. elections in November. An independent Russian outlet, Agentsvo, revealed this week that one of its contributors, Tatiana Kosterova, is a military police officer who has operated in occupied territories under the guise of a correspondent for the state-owned Ria Fan news agency. She has received a prize from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and her husband is a member of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.

“As for the shooting of a squad of Krestovskiy in the Kursk region: that’s good, but it’s not enough,” stated the pro-war Starshe Eddy channel, which has 624,000 followers, on October 13. “During the Great Patriotic War — the Soviet front in World War II — there were entire formations of the German army that were not taken prisoner,” the channel’s author added, after claiming that Ukrainian troops entering Russian territory “fired on civilians.” Moscow has not provided evidence to support this assertion.

Another channel run by a military officer, Guardia Nacional, which has more than 16,000 subscribers, emphasized that drone operators should be shot “even if they surrender.” “War has changed here too. In the past, snipers and pilots were not spared, and now UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] operators are being targeted.”

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