This is the horrifying moment Vladimir Putin’s Russian troops were caught on video shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in cold blood.
The shocking incident is believed to have happened last month near the village of Rabotyne, in the Zaporozhzhia region.
The terrifying execution was allegedly carried out by soldiers from the 70th Motorised Rifle Regiment.
Ukraine‘s Prosecutor General has begun a criminal investigation for violation of the laws and customs of war and for premeditated murder.
Andriy Kostin said on Wednesday that the video clearly showed Ukrainian soldiers laying down their arms and cooperating with Russian orders.
Images show the two Ukrainians being made to get inside a trench and then kneel down, while the two Russian soldiers appear to load their weapons.
After a short pause, one of the Russians fires one round into the trench, before the second one approaches and fires several shots.
Rabotnye was captured by Ukraine‘s army during its counteroffensive towards the end of August 2023.
However, Russia retook the village in May, as Ukraine struggled to hold on to its territorial gains due mostly to a lack of ammunition caused by delays to deliveries of Western military aid.
This is not the first time that Russia has been accused of murdering Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) previously identified four soldiers of the same Russian 70th Motorised Rifle Regiment who executed Ukrainian POWs near Robotyne in late May 2024.
Moreover, the organisation Human Rights Watch alleges that at least 15 Ukrainians were killed while trying to surrender and possibly six more who were surrendering or who had surrendered, since early December 2023.
Human Rights Watch says the incidents should be investigated as war crimes.
“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its forces have committed many heinous war crimes,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at the organisation.
“The summary execution – or murder – of surrendering and injured Ukrainian soldiers, gunned down in cold blood, expressly forbidden under international humanitarian law, is also included in that shameful legacy.”
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) claims that the Russian military command encourages its soldiers to carry out war crimes throughout the theatre of war in Ukraine.
They say that this “culture of permissiveness” is particularly prevalent in the Donetsk and Zaporizhizha regions.