A video on social media apparently showing Russian troops executing a Ukrainian soldier is the latest proof that “this war is genocidal”, the Ukrainian foreign minister has said.
Ukraine has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate gruesome images circulating on social media showing Russian forces killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war with a series of assault weapon blasts.
The amateur video apparently shows a detained soldier standing in a shallow trench, dressed in camouflage and smoking a cigarette. The man said “Slava Ukraini!” – or Glory to Ukraine – before several shots are heard.
The victim collapses to the ground as bullets from automatic weapons hit his body repeatedly. A voice in Russian is heard saying “Die bi*ch”.
“Horrifying video of an unarmed Ukrainian POW being executed by Russian forces simply for saying ‘Glory to Ukraine’. Another [piece of] proof that this war is genocidal,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on social media on Monday.
Kuleba said it was “imperative” that Prosecutor Karim Khan “launch an immediate ICC investigation into this heinous war crime.”
“Perpetrators must face justice,” he added.
Separately, the Foreign Office said in a tweet: “Killing prisoners of war is a war crime. Those responsible for such crimes will be punished”.
The authenticity, date or location of the video, which is of poor quality, could not immediately be verified. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment.
Horrifying video of an unarmed Ukrainian POW being executed by Russian forces simply for saying “Glory to Ukraine”. Another proof that this war is genocidal. It is imperative that @KarimKhanQC launch an immediate ICC investigation into this heinous war crime. The perpetrators must face justice.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 6, 2023
The phrase “Glory to Ukraine” and the response “Heroyam Slava”, or “Glory to the heroes”, have been the hallmark of post-Soviet Ukraine. But it has taken on special importance as a common greeting in public life since the beginning of the Russian invasion a year ago. It also served to rally international support for Ukraine.
#Glory to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the video showed Russian occupiers “brutally killing a warrior”.
He added in his Monday evening speech: ‘I want us all to respond in unity to his words, ‘Glory to the hero. Glory to the heroes. Glory to Ukraine.’ And we will find the murderers. Ukraine will not forget the feat of all those whose lives gave Ukraine freedom forever.
Within hours of the video’s appearance, #GloryToUkraine became one of the most popular hashtags on Twitter.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s attorney general, said on Telegram that Ukraine’s security services had registered the shooting as a criminal case under its criminal code which covers violations of the laws and customs of war.
“Even war has its own laws,” he said, adding that prosecutors in his office would pursue the case. “There are rules of international law systematically ignored by the Russian criminal regime. But sooner or later there will be a punishment.
Today Ukrainians were rocked by another case of Russian brutality. The Russian invaders killed a Ukrainian POW simply for saying the words “Glory to Ukraine/Slava Ukraini”.
Killing prisoners of war is a war crime. Those responsible for such crimes will be punished
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) March 6, 2023
The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said the man was a Ukrainian prisoner of war and the killing was part of a “deliberate policy of terror” by Russia.
Ukrainian and Western authorities say there is evidence of thousands of war crimes committed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces committed atrocities or attacked civilians.
Evidence of Ukrainian forces commit war crimes during the conflict, including the execution of soldiers who surrendered, also surfaced.