The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission reported a «disturbing increase» in executions by the Russian side since August 2024, that is, after the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were captured by the Russian armed forces were shot on the spot. Witnesses also reported the killings of unarmed and wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
Since the end of August 2024, the Mission recorded 79 such executions in 24 separate incidents. The Mission received and analyzed video and photographic materials published by Ukrainian and Russian sources, depicting executions or corpses. It also conducted detailed interviews with witnesses. The geolocation of incidents indicates that the reported executions occurred in areas where Russian offensive operations were conducted. All reports were assessed as credible.
«These incidents did not occur in a vacuum. Public figures in the Russian Federation openly called for inhumane treatment and even the execution of captured Ukrainian servicemen, — said the head of the Mission, Daniel Bell. — Combined with broad amnesty laws, such statements may incite or encourage unlawful behavior».
Last year, the Mission recorded at least three such statements from Russian Federation officials, as well as a number of social media posts from military groups associated with the Russian armed forces, in which orders were given or executions were approved.
On October 29, after a drone attack on the special forces university in Gudermes, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, ordered all commanders on the front line «not to take prisoners» of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He later stated that he «canceled» his order.
«All allegations of the execution of captured Ukrainian servicemen and public statements calling for or condoning such actions must be investigated», — Bell believes.
The Mission also reported that last year the Russian Federation prosecuted at least 10 female prisoners of war under domestic anti-terrorism legislation for their membership in specific military units, which is inconsistent with their combatant immunity from prosecution for mere participation in hostilities or lawful acts of war.