Russian troops appeared to ruthlessly shoot dead three Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered on their knees in a disturbing front-lines execution captured in drone footage, according to a report Friday.
The soldiers had placed their hands on their heads on a road after their trench was overtaken near the war-torn city of Pokrovsk in late August, according to Ukrainian drone footage obtained by CNN.
Seconds later, they’re shown suddenly falling to the ground face-first as dust rises — a sign Russian troops had opened fire instead of taking them prisoner, according to the outlet.
Ukrainian prosecutors called the killings a war crime carried out by the Kremlin.
“If prisoners of war surrender, if they show that they surrender, if they are without weapons in their hands, then summary execution is a war crime,” Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general of Ukraine, told CNN.
The incident is part of a pattern of harrowing executions in recent months — and is an example of the Russian military’s relentlessly brutal tactics as they advance in Ukraine’s eastern region, Ukrainian officials told the outlet.
A total of 15 similar cases of surrendering Ukrainian soldiers being gunned down have been reported since November, according to Ukrainian defense intelligence sources, who cited drone footage.
At least 28 such incidents have been investigated since the war began in February 2022, said Kostin, who called the disturbing footage potential proof of “crimes against humanity.”
“[It’s] an opportunity to claim that such policy could be [elevated] to crimes against humanity. This policy is orchestrated by Kremlin. It’s an order of specific commanders,” he said.
Moscow continues to push toward the Ukrainian strategic military hub of Pokrovsk despite Kyiv’s recent gains in the Russian border region of Kursk — prompting speculation that the Kremlin would be forced to divert troops to defend Russia’s own border.
Ukrainian prosecutors are also investigating “the possible execution of 73 Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian military,” they said Thursday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
