A video showing about a dozen Russian soldiers surrendering in eastern Ukraine has sparked accusations of war by Moscow against the Kiev regime. Images show Russian soldiers lying on the ground unarmed as a man opens fire. On social networks, the version runs that they died by a mortar shell, not by summary execution.
Russia accuses Ukraine of executing more than a dozen Russian soldiers who surrendered to Ukrainian forces during a military operation in Makhiivka, Luhansk province. Moscow’s claims were based on drone footage showing the bodies of Russian soldiers lying on the ground of a farm in that part of eastern Ukraine, and were complemented by videos and reports on social media reporting the deaths of a dozen Russian soldiers.
“This brutal killing of Russian servicemen is not Ukraine’s first or only war crime,” the Russian Defense Ministry condemned. “This is a common practice in the Ukrainian armed forces and is actively supported by the Kiev regime and blatantly ignored by its Western bosses,” Moscow added in reports republished by Reuters news agency.
