Ukrainian soldier beheaded by Russians in Donetsk oblast identified

UKRAINE, June 20 — A Ukrainian soldier cruelly murdered by Russian soldiers in the Donetsk oblast has been identified, Andrii Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, said on June 19.

On June 18, Kostin wrote that the Ukrainian military had received information that Moscow troops in the Volnovakha district of Donetsk Oblast had been ordered not to take Ukrainian soldiers prisoner and to ” kill them with inhuman cruelty.” During an aerial reconnaissance mission, he said, Ukrainian troops discovered a damaged armored vehicle belonging to the Ukrainian army with the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier resting on its hood.

Andrei Kostin said that the prosecutor's office cannot currently name the soldier executed by the Russians because “final identification procedures are underway.”

He also stressed that Russian commanders, potentially responsible for the beheading of the Ukrainian soldier, are also identified. The related information is currently being verified.

“This fact is another confirmation that complete disregard for international law and human morality constitutes the policy of a terrorist country, Russia,” the Prosecutor General said. “All world leaders who shake hands with Putin must understand that they are shaking hands with a person who tolerates barbaric killings.”

Russian executions and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war during the full-scale invasion were not uncommon. The Human Rights Watch report released on May 2 says that since December 2023, Moscow's troops have executed at least 15 surrendering Ukrainian soldiers.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the cruel treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Kharkiv direction. Ukrainian mediator Dmytro Lybinets appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations to document that Russian troops were torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war after the start of their new offensive north of Kharkov.

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