Ombudsman’s Office Has Dozens of Videos of Executions of Ukrainian Soldiers by Russians

Over the past nine months, the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has received dozens of videos showing the public execution of Ukrainian soldiers by Russian invaders.

Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said this in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.

“These videos show beheadings, genital mutilations, cutting off of ears, noses, limbs, and phalanges on hands. Some of these criminals have already been identified, and one of them has been killed in a combat clash with Ukrainian defenders,” he said.

According to Lubinets, Russia is releasing such videos on purpose for several reasons. Firstly, “to maintain the degree of anti-Ukrainian hysteria” within Russian society. The second reason is to motivate their military not to surrender so that they believe that Ukrainians will kill them in the same way. Thirdly, to intimidate the Ukrainian military who are preparing for a counteroffensive.

At the same time, 86% of Ukrainian military personnel who returned from Russian captivity reported direct physical torture.

“We open our proceedings for each returned serviceman, record the cases, which once again confirm the mistreatment of prisoners of war. As for torture, according to our data, 86% of those who returned from captivity reported direct physical torture. This, by the way, was established not only by us but also by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. They have approximately the same figures,” the official said.

At the same time, he refused to specify what kind of torture is involved. According to Lubinets, this is due to the fact that after the public disclosure of such facts, “the Russians begin to treat our prisoners of war even more cruelly.”

Bohdan Marusyak