Pskov paratroopers suspected of executing Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia

The Office of Prosecutor General of Ukraine has reason to suspect soldiers from the Russian 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division, also known as the Pskov Airborne Division, of executing three Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Source: Yurii Bielousov, Head of the Department of Combating Crimes in the Context of the Armed Conflict in the Office of the Prosecutor General, on the air of Radio Liberty

Details: Bielousov said that the names of the killed servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been established, are currently being verified and will be made public later.

The Prosecutor's Office is not yet ready to comment on where the bodies of the fallen soldiers are now.

Quote: "At this time, we can confirm the video's authenticity. We identified our servicemen who were brutally murdered. 

Moreover, we are now identifying those involved in this crime. We have an assumption that the 76th Airborne Division of the Russian Federation is involved in the committing of this crime. But we are currently checking this data. This division is already known for war crimes committed in Ukraine, in particular in Kyiv Oblast.

We started the investigation immediately, on 16 December this year – as soon as the information reached law enforcement agencies. It just appeared in the public domain recently. We have information about (the execution – ed.) on 16 December."

Details: The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine sees consistency in this behaviour of the Russian military in Zaporizhzhia. 

Bielousov said that in the same month, the Russian army established the use of Ukrainian soldiers as human shields. 

He suggests that the Russian command may be approving such actions by their subordinates.

Quote: "During the last month alone, it was near this settlement in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast that there was a case of using Ukrainian prisoners as human shields – in fact, in the same area. This again shows that the practice is systematic, that this is not an isolated case, and that the command of the Russian Federation, whose subordinates commit these crimes, knows about it. And perhaps they even instruct their subordinates in this regard."

Background: 

• On 27 December, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that an investigation had been launched into the shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops near Zaporizhzhia. According to the investigation, in December 2023, during a battle with the Defence Forces of Ukraine near the village of Robotyne Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian servicemen captured three Ukrainian defenders, and an hour later, the latter were shot. A video of the shooting was posted on social networks.
• Earlier, the media got a video from a drone, which shows how Russian soldiers led captured soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at gunpoint towards Ukrainian positions, hiding behind them. 
• In October of this year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in its report on the situation in Ukraine, recorded six cases of summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war, covering the period from February to July 2023.
• According to the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, signed by Russia, amongst others, prisoners must be guaranteed their lives and humane detention conditions. Executions or ill-treatment of prisoners of war are considered war crimes.

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