Ukraine: after the broadcast of a video showing a beheading scene, Volodymyr Zelensky denounces “monsters”, the UN says it is “horrified”

Volodymyr Zelensky reacted very quickly. The video that shows the beheading with a knife of a suspected Ukrainian prisoner of war appeared on Russian Telegram channels on Tuesday (April 11). At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Ukraine’s president grabbed his cellphone and, looking tired, in a deep voice, posted a statement on his social media. “Nobody should ignore how easily these beasts kill. This video of the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner, the world must open its eyes. This video shows the Russians as they are.”

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For a little over a minute, on this video, we see a man in uniform dying. Ukrainian army yellow armband on the arm, he is lying on the ground of a forest. Another, in a camouflage uniform, speaks Russian. Knife in hand, he slices her neck before showing the severed head to the camera. There is no evidence to determine where and when it may have been filmed.

kyiv has launched a preliminary investigation to date and authenticate the video and authorities have said they are seeking to identify the victim. For its part, the Kremlin called for verifying the“authenticity” of this video via Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaking “horrifying images”.

The UN calls for “a real investigation”

The UN human rights mission in Ukraine said “horrified”. She also mentions a second video showing “the mutilated bodies, apparently of Ukrainian prisoners of war”, and therefore calls for “these incidents are the subject of a real investigation and that the perpetrators are held accountable”. Same message from the side of the European Union: the EU will ask “Accounts to all perpetrators and accomplices of war crimes” in Ukraine, said Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, on Wednesday.

At the beginning of March, a video of a Ukrainian prisoner being murdered at close range was widely circulated on the Internet. At first, the Ministry of Defense identified a soldier Tymofiï Shadoura before backtracking a few days later. It was another soldier, Oleksandr Matsiyevski.