A video circulating on social media allegedly shows Russian troops shooting a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) near the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia sector last month.
Volunteer and activist Serhii Sternenko wrote on Telegram that, according to preliminary data, the shooting was carried out by soldiers from Russia’s 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
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“Terrorist country Russia continues to show complete disregard for the law and basic human morality,” Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said, whose office has initiated criminal proceedings.
“The recording clearly shows that the defenders of Ukraine laid down their weapons and did not offer any resistance. The occupiers cynically shoot unarmed people.”
Kostin added that all those involved will be found and punished – “both those who gave this criminal order and the direct executors of this brutal crime.”
“We know that this is not an accident. This is a deliberate policy of the Kremlin’s criminal regime to destroy everything Ukrainian,” Kostin said.
Other cases
The Prosecutor General’s office has also launched an investigation into the Russian military’s February shooting of three Ukrainian POWs – again near the village of Robotyne.
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DeepState analysts released video footage of that incident on Telegram on Feb. 20.
The footage, dated Feb. 18, shows Russian troops advancing from the south and seizing part of a stronghold, trapping three Ukrainian soldiers. It depicts these soldiers emerging from a trench and surrendering, only to be shot by the Russian forces after a brief pause.
Reports of the shooting of Ukrainian POWs near Robotyne initially surfaced at the end of last year.
A video came out on social media on Dec. 27 – again appearing to show Russian military personnel firing on captured Ukrainian soldiers.
Yury Belousov, a Prosecutor General's Office representative, said that this behavior by the Russian military in the Zaporizhzhia region seems to be a systematic pattern.
He cited previous instances where Ukrainians were also used as human shields.
A drone video published by Radio Svoboda on Dec. 13, shows Russian infantry forcing at least three unarmed Ukrainian POWs to advance in front of them, likely as human shields near Robotyne. One of the prisoners is shot dead in the video.
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