Ukrainian authorities today reported the execution of five Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian forces near Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, in the east of the country.
The prosecutor's office in that region in eastern Ukraine has opened a preliminary investigation into possible war crimes, it said in a statement.
The events took place on November 13, when Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troop positions in the town of Petrivka.
Five Ukrainian soldiers took refuge after retreating to a private house, which was later surrounded by the enemy.
Russian soldiers forced them to come out and lie down on the ground and then shot them with semi-automatic weapons, according to the prosecutor.
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian justice system had announced that it was investigating the alleged execution of six of its soldiers after their capture in the east of its territory by Russian forces.
Ukrainian authorities said in late October that they had information about the execution by Russian soldiers of more than a hundred prisoners of war, most of them recently. Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of killing prisoners of war since the beginning of the Russian invasion, launched in February 2022.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says it has "documented numerous violations of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war, including cases of summary executions of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war." Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, arguing that it was protecting pro-Russian separatist minorities in the east and "denazifying" the neighboring country, which has been independent since 1991 - after the collapse of the Soviet Union - and which has been moving away from Moscow's sphere of influence and closer to Europe and the West.
The war in Ukraine has already claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides, and recent months have seen large-scale Russian airstrikes targeting Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, while Kiev’s forces have targeted targets in Russian territory close to the border and in the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014.
Entering the third year of war, the Ukrainian armed forces have been struggling with a shortage of soldiers and weapons and ammunition, despite repeated promises of aid from Western allies, which have now begun to materialize.
The more numerous and better-equipped Russian troops are continuing their advance on the eastern front, despite the Ukrainian offensive in Russia in the Kursk region.
Negotiations between the two sides have been completely blocked since spring 2022, with Moscow continuing to demand that Ukraine accept the annexation of part of its territory.
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