Five Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed earlier this month, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General reported on Tuesday.
The prosecutor’s office said Russian troops stormed Ukrainian positions near the village of Petrivka, Pokrovsk district, in November, which led to five Ukrainian soldiers retreating to hide in a private residence.
Moscow’s troops encircled the apartment, capturing the defenders. Upon being captured, the prisoners were shot after being made to lie on the ground unarmed, said the report.
“The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a serious international crime,” it read.
Anatoli Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
It added that an investigation was underway to establish the circumstances of the incident, and that a pre-trial investigation would be carried out by the SBU Main Directorate in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
This follows an earlier announcement that more Ukrainian prisoners of war had been executed by Russian forces the month prior.
The prosecutor’s office reported that on October 2, Russian forces launched an assault on Ukrainian positions near the city of Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast, resulting in the capture of five defenders.
According to operational data, one was killed in a forested area, while the remaining four were forced at gunpoint onto a road, where they were also shot, it said.
The official statements from the prosecutor’s office did not state whether the two incidents were connected. Newsweek has contacted the prosecutors’ office for further details via email.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian authorities said Moscow suffered 1,480 casualties and the loss of 19 artillery systems between November 25 and 26.
The report, posted to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine’s official X, formerly Twitter page, also said that six tanks, 72 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and 114 vehicles were destroyed within the same time frame.
Meanwhile, Russia said yesterday it had eliminated 19,501 tanks and armored vehicles, 18,502 artillery systems, 36,648 drones, and 28,718 support vehicles since fighting began.
The reports followed the U.S.’ decision to lift restrictions on Ukraine utilizing American-supplied long-range weapons to hit targets in Russian territory after reports that North Korean troops would be bolstering Moscow’s forces.
Russia has since retaliated with a hypersonic missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, which targeted a military facility.
The attack utilized the experimental Oreshnik hypersonic missile, an intermediate-range weapon reportedly capable of carrying either nuclear or conventional warheads.
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