RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: Murder on the Front Line

Russian troops killing more and more Ukrainian captives, in breach of the Geneva Conventions, is a bloody new tactic in the ongoing conflict

- BRENDAN COLE

RUSSIAN FORCES LAST MONTH EXECUTED NINE Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Kursk region, according to reports, in acts of brutality that appear to be a new tactic for Moscow in the war since it started. At least 104 Ukrainian POWs are now thought to have been killed.

Since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion on February 24, 2022, prisoners have been used by both sides as bargaining chips, with large groups exchanged, including a major swap of 206 POWs in September this year.

But the Institute for the Study of War said there has been an increase in Russian forces killing Ukrainian POWs, with commanders "condoning, encouraging or directly ordering" the executions. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Yuri Bilousov, head of the Ukrainian Department for Combating Crimes in Conditions of Armed Conflict, said there was evidence that 80 percent of Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs on the battlefield since the war began were carried out this year. Open-source intelligence project DeepState reported on October 13 that Ukrainian drone operators near the Kursk village of Zeleny Shlyakh unexpectedly encountered Russian forces and surrendered when they came under fire. Visual evidence suggested that the prisoners had been disarmed, lined up, stripped and shot in what was condemned by the Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, as a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions.