Russia executes Ukrainian POWs: CNN uncovers evidence of war crimes
Illustrative photo: CNN showed evidence of Russia's war crimes (Getty Images)
Russian commanders are ordering their troops to execute surrendering Ukrainian defenders, according to CNN.
The outlet writes that intercepted radio communications and drone footage align with the timing of a video recorded last November in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, showing what appears to be the execution of Ukrainian POWs by Russian soldiers. In the footage, six soldiers lie face down on the ground. At least two are shot at point-blank range, while another is being marched away.
According to CNN, the radio transmissions and drone footage are consistent with other cases in which Russian troops allegedly executed Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered.
"They (executions - ed.) would not happen with such numbers and frequency without orders – or at the very least consent – from the highest military commanders, which in Russia means the Presidency," said UN Special Rapporteur Morris Tidball-Binz.
A Western intelligence official who reviewed the audio files confirmed they were "authentic, credible, and consistent with previously documented brutal executions."
He said that it was obvious that "the soldier receives an order to execute the Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered."
Ukraine’s response
According to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, he responded to Russia’s war crimes last year by sending official letters to the ICRC and the UN.
"In November of last year, I reacted to this crime and sent official letters to the ICRC and the UN, emphasizing that the killing of prisoners of war is a war crime that must result in accountability," he wrote.
In November last year, Russian troops executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Zaporizhzhia region. The incident occurred near the village of Novodarivka in the Polohy district.
Executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war
According to Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, in 2024 alone, the execution of 109 Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces was officially confirmed. He added that in previous years, a total of 177 such killings of Ukrainian defenders by Russian forces had been documented.
In February 2025, a video emerged online showing the execution of Ukrainian soldiers who had been captured by Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk region. The footage shows a Russian soldier deliberately shooting a Ukrainian prisoner in the head. According to one Ukrainian serviceman, the victims were soldiers from the 82nd Brigade.
