The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is alarmed over a pointy rise in executions of Ukrainian prisoners of warfare (POWs) by Russian forces, in line with a press launch obtained by the Kyiv Unbiased on Feb. 3.

A complete of 79 such executions in 24 separate incidents have been recorded by the mission because the finish of August 2024. Presumably, a few of these incidents concern group executions.

Ukrainian authorities have documented widespread violations of the Geneva Conventions by Russia through the warfare. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda that as of mid-December 2024, Kyiv had recorded the execution of 177 captured Ukrainian troopers, with 109 of them final 12 months.

The U.N. mission interviewed witnesses and analyzed movies and images printed by Ukrainian and Russian sources exhibiting killings or lifeless our bodies of Ukrainian POWs.

The mission additionally stated it had documented the execution of an injured and incapacitated — however not but captured — Russian soldier by the Ukrainian military in 2024. Kyiv has not commented on this report.

Many Ukrainian troopers who surrendered or had been within the custody of the Russian forces had been shot lifeless on the spot, in line with the assertion. Unarmed and wounded Ukrainian troopers had been additionally killed, witnesses stated.

The reported executions passed off in areas the place Russian offensive operations had been ongoing.

In response to Danielle Bell, the top of the mission, Russian public figures have explicitly known as for the inhumane remedy and execution of captured Ukrainian troopers, with a minimum of three such appeals recorded by the mission together with social media posts made by Russian military-linked teams.

"These incidents didn’t happen in a vacuum," Bell stated.

"All allegations of execution of captured Ukrainian navy personnel and public statements calling for, or condoning, such actions should be investigated."

The assertion that "no quarter" can be given is a severe violation of worldwide humanitarian regulation and a warfare crime, in line with the assertion.

How Ukraine lost faith in the Red Cross and UNSeeing the face of Ukrainian soldier Maksym Kolesnykov light up with joy over an apple upon his release from Russian captivity last February was enough to bring anyone to tears. During nearly a year in captivity, Kolesnykov lost over 30 kilograms and could not walk freely due to a severeThe Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko