Ukraine establishes new details about execution of 16 captured Ukrainian soldiers near Pokrovsk
Illustrative photo: Ukrainian prisoners of war shot near Pokrovsk (facebook.com/NGUmainpage)
Ukrainian law enforcement is investigating the shooting of 16 captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers by the Russian military in the Pokrovsk direction. In particular, they have already identified the unit that may have carried out the execution, according to a statement from Yurii Belousоv, head of the War Department of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
He noted that, at this time, it is known that as a result of the shooting near Pokrovsk, soldiers from two units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may have been killed.
"We know the numbers of these units. We have preliminarily identified the soldiers' data. However, we are verifying this information out of respect for their families, to avoid making mistakes with their names," he added.
Belousov also mentioned that law enforcement already has information about the location of the shooting of the Ukrainian prisoners of war and the Russian military unit that may be involved in such atrocities.
According to him, requests have been sent to military units, intelligence units, and international partners to gather as much information as possible about this new Russian war crime.
The head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General's Office noted that a sharp deterioration in the attitude of Russian soldiers towards Ukrainian prisoners of war has been recorded since November last year. Eighty percent of the executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war occurred this year. Meanwhile, law enforcement has established 93 cases of execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the battlefield.
"As of today, we have 708 suspects, who are representatives of the Russian Armed Forces, officially suspected. In addition, we have thousands of others we are investigating. However, these individuals have already received formal charges. Of these, 151 have already been convicted," Belousov stated.
Mass execution
It was recently reported that a video was published online showing the Russian military executing 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war simultaneously.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, this atrocity occurred in the Pokrovsk direction. Law enforcement has initiated an investigation.
Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin noted that this is the largest execution since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
