Horrific beheading of Ukrainian prisoner of war is part of Russia’s deliberate policy in war against Ukraine

The Russians have beheaded a Ukrainian soldier in Donetsk oblast, with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General reporting that this may be part of a Russian directive to not take Ukrainian prisoners of war, but instead use maximum savagery in killing them.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin stated on 18 June that during aerial reconnaissance of one of the military positions in Donetsk oblast, Ukrainian defenders had discovered a Ukrainian Armed Forces armed vehicle, with the decapitated head of a Ukrainian soldier on it.  They have received information, he said, that the commanders of one Russian military unit in the Volnovakha raion have issued an order to not take any prisoners of war, but to kill them with inhuman savagery.

“This is horrific barbarism which has no place in the 21st century.  It is also the latest proof that the war crimes which the aggressor state is committing are not isolated incidents, but the Russian regime’s planned strategy. These criminal orders were issued battalion and company command level.”

A criminal investigation has been initiated under Article 438 § 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (war crimes, linked with homicide).

This is not the first evidence that the Russian invaders have beheaded Ukrainian defenders who, if taken prisoner, have protected status under international law.  In August 2022, drone footage was posted, both in Ukraine and by CNN, of Russia’s total destruction of the Luhansk city of Popasna. In one shot, Ukrainian defenders were seen being led away, with their hands on their heads.  Shortly after this, another photo was posted by the then Governor of Luhansk oblast, Serhiy Haidai which appeared to show the impaled head and hands of a Ukrainian prisoner of war outside a house in Popasna. 

In April 2023, two separate videos were posted which appeared to show Russians beheading Ukrainian soldiers.  One, posted on 8 April on a pro-Russian social media platform, showed the beheaded bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers.  The other was posted on 11 April, but may have been taken earlier.  On it a Russian can be seen beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war. 

While such video footage, often of very poor quality, can be very hard to verify, it is clear that international monitors are in no doubt that Russia has murdered many Ukrainian prisoners of war.  In its monitoring report for the period from December 2023 to March 2024, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that its monitors had “recorded 12 cases of executions of at least 32 captured Ukrainian POWs. OHCHR has verified three of these incidents in which Russian servicemen executed seven Ukrainian servicemen hors de combat.”

“In eight of the reported cases, videos published on social media showed what appears to be Russian servicemen killing Ukrainian POWs who had laid down their weapons and using other captured Ukrainian POWs as human shields”. 

OHCHR had, for example, obtained corroborating information for a video where Russian soldiers certainly appeared to have shot three Ukrainian servicemen who were kneeling with their hands behind their heads.  One of the Russians then approached the soldiers and shot at one of them. “A recently released Ukrainian POW confirmed to OHCHR that the incident took place near the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region, in December 2023 and that the servicemen killed were from his unit”,  A witness had confirmed the execution by Russian soldiers of three Ukrainian prisoners of war at the beginning of January 2024 in Zaporizhzhia region. According to this witness, two of the men had been executed on the spot after their surrender, while a third POW was killed after being injured by a mine while being forced by the Russians to conduct demining work. 

Russia is blocking independent investigators and applying repressive measures against Ukrainians in occupied territory and its own population who tell the truth about Russian crimes.  The fact that OHCHR have already been able to verify such crimes suggests that it is just a matter of time before it will confirm others. 

The huge sentences that Russia imposes on those who speak openly about its crimes at Bucha, Izium, Mariupol and other cities is further indirect evidence that the videos of atrocities against Ukrainian prisoners of war are deliberately made public.  (see: Ukraine launches investigation into third Russian execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war in a week )

Since November 2023, there has been a dramatic increase in apparent killings of POWs, with the cases in quite different places.  Yury Bielousov, the head of the Prosecutor General’s Department on countering crimes committed during the armed conflict, believes that this increase indicates that this is Russian policy supported by the top echelons of Russia’s armed forces. Through the publication of such videos,  Russia is seeking to demoralize Ukrainian soldiers, to weaken their resistance and to generally make it easier to subjugate Ukraine, he says. It is simply impossible, he stresses, that the Russian military leadership are not aware of such killings.  If they wanted to stop them, they could. 

See also:   Russia’s killing of over 50 Ukrainian POWs at Olenivka was a “show execution” – former Azov defender