Ukraine investigating 49 cases of Russians killing 124 surrendering Ukrainian soldiers

Law enforcement officers are investigating 49 criminal cases related to the murder of 124 Ukrainian prisoners of war on the battlefield.

Denys Lysenko, head of the Prosecutor General's Office's Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Times of Armed Conflict, said this on Ukrainian television.

"We are analyzing all these cases, looking for patterns and regularities. We are already building cases against top commanders of the Russian Armed Forces who, in our opinion, may be involved in organizing such crimes or failing to take measures to stop them and punish the guilty. Therefore, we are considering all these cases comprehensively and we are analyzing the participation of a certain armed unit in each specific case. But this does not remove responsibility from the commanders," he said.

According to Lysenko, the growing number of murders of surrendering Ukrainian defenders began at the end of 2023 and reached unprecedented levels this year. The largest number of cases was recorded in the Donetsk region.

He recalled that another case of Ukrainian prisoners of war being killed during their surrender was registered in the Donetsk region on November 5. These events took place on October 23 in the eastern part of Selydove, when three prisoners of war were killed, and on November 1 near the village of Vyshneve of the Selydove territorial community, when three more prisoners of war were executed by the occupiers.

Photo: RFE/RL