The United Nations says it has documented dozens of circumstances of abstract executions of prisoners of battle (POWs) carried out by each Russian and Ukrainian forces since February 2022, however admits it’s far more durable to get data from Russia, or territories underneath Russian management than it’s from Ukrainian authorities.
In a brand new report, the UN’s Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it has documented the abstract execution of 15 Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces, along with using Ukrainian POWs as human shields, the loss of life of two wounded POWs as a consequence of lack of medical care, in addition to torture.
Among the many circumstances documented within the report is that of an officer of the Ukrainian Nationwide Guard tortured after which executed after refusing handy over a password for entry to a radio station in Mariupol in April 2022. In one other case, in September, a wounded Ukrainian serviceman was shot thrice within the chest and as soon as within the head after being captured by fighters from the Wagner mercenary group in a village south of Bakhmut.
“Abstract executions and assaults towards POWs and individuals hors de fight are prohibited underneath worldwide regulation, and the place deliberate, represent battle crimes,” the report notes.
The report additionally highlights the shortage of cooperation UN investigators have acquired from Russian and Russian-occupying authorities, saying it has been unable to achieve any entry to POWs interned by the Russian Federation, regardless of repeated such requests. It mentions one event solely, in August, when a UN group was allowed to fulfill, however not interview, 13 Ukrainian POWs held in Russian-occupied Luhansk.
On the opposite facet, the report says it has documented – by means of open-source data, in situ visits and witness interviews – the abstract execution of at the very least 25 Russian POWs being held by Ukrainian forces.
In a single incident in March 2022 within the Luhansk area, the UN report suggests some members of Russian-affiliated armed teams had been killed by Ukrainian servicemen after refusing to pronounce their intent to give up. The UN report says the Russian fighters, some probably injured or useless, had been mendacity on the bottom within the wake of an artillery assault.
In distinction to the shortage of cooperation from Russian authorities, the report says UN groups have been given “full and confidential entry” to Russian POWs held in official locations of internment by Ukraine, “which OHCHR acknowledges with nice appreciation.”
