The UN on Friday March 24 accused Ukrainian and Russian forces of committing summary executions of prisoners of war during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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“We are deeply concerned by the summary execution of 25 Russian prisoners of war and persons hors de combat” as well as that of “15 Ukrainian prisoners of war”said Matilda Bogner, head of the United Nations human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine.
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“Pure retaliation”
According to her, the UN documented these executions of Russians by the Ukrainian armed forces, ” often “ perpetrated “immediately after capture on the battlefield”. The UN is aware of five investigations carried out by Kyiv involving 22 victims, but “we are not aware of any prosecution against the authors” of these crimes, she added.
Regarding the executions of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war “soon after their capture” by the Russian armed forces, 11 of them were perpetrated by the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, the official said.
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Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of mistreating prisoners amounting to war crimes. In a report published on Friday, the United Nations human rights monitoring mission claimed that members of the Ukrainian armed forces had subjected Russian prisoners of war to death threats, mock executions or threats of sexual violence.
In several cases, the blows delivered were “purely retaliation”according to the report. “In some cases, officers beat prisoners of war saying ‘It’s for Boutcha'”the mission said, referring to a town near kyiv where Russian forces have been accused of atrocities. “Before the interrogation, they showed me an ax handle covered in blood as a warning”said a Russian prisoner of war quoted in the report, who says he was tortured with electricity.
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Bad treatments
The report also denounces the ill-treatment suffered by Ukrainian prisoners of war at the hands of Russian forces, including torture, denial of medical care which has sometimes resulted in death, sexual violence, denial of access to water and the food.
Ukrainian POWs have reported being tortured and ill-treated for information or as punishment. They said they were beaten with shovels, stabbed, electrically shocked and strangled.
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“Some of them have lost teeth or fingers, broken ribs, fingers or noses”says the report. “They didn’t just beat us, they broke us. They used their fists, their legs, batons, tasers. Some prisoners of war had their arms or legs broken”said a man quoted in the text.
Ukrainian human rights envoy Dmytro Loubinets said on Telegram on Friday ” surprised “ by the UN accusations against Kyiv and not having been informed in advance. Without directly denying the violations attributed to the Ukrainian forces, he said he wanted “to know the facts and the indisputable arguments on which the conclusions are based” of the UN report.
In early March, a video showing the alleged execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers caused shock in Ukraine. In November, the Kremlin was outraged by two videos showing the alleged execution of a dozen Russian soldiers who had just surrendered to Ukrainian forces.
