Kyiv says Russian forces executed hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war

Ukraine says Russian forces have executed hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war since Moscow's 2022 invasion, while Russia rejects accusations of war crimes.

The exact number is unclear and varies between Ukrainian and international sources. Ukrainian officials allege the killings show a deliberate Russian policy. Russian authorities did not respond to a request for comment on the specific allegations, and Moscow has systematically denied war crime accusations while accusing Kyiv of committing them.

One case described by AFP involved Ukrainian soldier Andriy Dubnytsky, who was 25 when he was killed in February 2024 as Ukrainian troops withdrew from Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. His wife, Lyudmyla Dubnytska, said he called her on February 15 while extremely distressed and later sent a message saying he and other soldiers would probably be captured. Two days later, she said she recognised his body in a video on Russian social media showing five bodies lying in a frozen puddle.

The 110th brigade confirmed that several troops, including Dubnytsky and fellow fighter Ivan Zhytnyk, had been killed. The brigade accused Russian forces of violating an agreement to evacuate them. Ukrainian prosecutors opened an investigation into the shooting of unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Andriy Atamantchuk, an official in Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office who oversees the issue, said Russian troops increased the rate of executions starting in 2023. He alleged that the pattern came from a Russian policy that encouraged and enabled such crimes, with commanders issuing orders. A UN report last month cited 129 verified executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war and said last year there had been a marked increase in cases.

Atamantchuk said Kyiv has opened 116 investigations into the killings of 306 Ukrainian servicemen since 2022, but said the total is likely much higher. A Ukrainian intelligence official, speaking anonymously, said intelligence services had tracked more than 900 military personnel killed in more than 340 incidents since 2022, which the official said might represent only 25 to 40 percent of such cases. The source said differences in methodology explain the varying figures, with prosecutors relying on documented and proven facts while intelligence services receive information more quickly from frontline units and other sources.

Under the Geneva Conventions, soldiers are considered prisoners of war from the moment they clearly surrender. Ukrainian intelligence alleged that the Wagner paramilitary group helped set the tone for executions, and Ukrainian investigators have alleged cases including shootings, beheadings and other brutal killings, some shown in images circulated on Russian social media.

Atamantchuk said only five Russian soldiers have so far been convicted in Ukraine, including two in absentia. He said investigations are difficult because authorities often cannot access combat zones, but he hopes to give families the names of those responsible.