The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has registered a sharp rise in reported summary executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian armed forces.
Since the end of August, the mission recorded 79 such killings in 24 separate incidents, it said in the latest report.
Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were in the custody of the Russian armed forces were shot dead on the spot. Witness accounts also described the killings of unarmed and injured Ukrainian soldiers.
Further video and photo material published by Ukrainian and Russian sources showing executions or dead bodies have been analysed, geo- and chronolocated alongside the detailed interviews with the witnesses, the mission explained.
“These incidents did not occur in a vacuum. Public figures in the Russian Federation have explicitly called for inhumane treatment, and even execution, of captured Ukrainian military personnel,” the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, said.
In a separate statement, the UN mission told Euronews its “documentation indicates an environment enabling violations to occur, including with impunity.”
Key factors include Russian public officials explicitly calling for inhumane treatment and even executions, the mission said, adding that it has documented direct orders or endorsements of reported executions by military groups linked to the Russian armed forces, which have been publicly shared on social media.
The UN watchdog, also known as the HRMMU, further told Euronews that Russian government officials, other public figures, and state-owned media regularly use “dehumanising language” when referring to Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).
“Such public discourse frequently portrays Ukrainians as less than human and emphasizes the notion of ‘de-Nazifying’ Ukraine. Ukrainian POWs have reported that their torturers and those who ill-treated them often used dehumanising language, referring to them as ‘Nazis,’ ‘fascists,’ or similar terms,” the organisation explained.
Law exempting perpetrators from accountability?
The UN mission says another aspect to factor in is the 2023 laws exempting Russian military personnel from accountability, which were further expanded in 2024. In October last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law measures that allow defendants in criminal cases to avoid prosecution if they join the military.
Russian forces often document themselves the executions of Ukrainian soldiers and later post them on social media channels, which, according to the HRMMU, “in itself represents a violation of international humanitarian law.”
In one of the most recent cases, a photo has been circulated online by Russian sources, showing a decapitated Ukrainian soldier. The photo shows the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier being held, presumably, by a Russian soldier.
The Ukrainian soldier had been preliminarily identified, Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances Artur Dobroserdov said on Tuesday.
The national police have been tasked with contacting the soldier’s relatives and investigating the case while Ukrainian authorities are documenting another violation of international humanitarian law by Russia.
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The Prosecutor General’s Office was informed of the incident as part of ongoing efforts to document Russian war crimes.
Ukrainian authorities have documented widespread violations of the Geneva Conventions by Russia, including the execution of 177 captured Ukrainian soldiers as of mid-December 2024.
