Mass executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war — ISW names possible reason

Recently, information about the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war has been appearing more and more often. Russian commanders are likely to encourage the execution of our soldiers.

This was reported by analysts of the Institute for the Study of War on Sunday, October 13.

Execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war

Recently, it became known that nine Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed in the Kursk region. According to the Ukrainian Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) project, on October 10, Russian troops captured Ukrainian drone operators near the village of Zelenyi Shliakh and shot them dead.

"Faced with limited ammunition, the Ukrainian drone operators were forced to surrender, and Russian troops took them prisoner," the report said.

Evidence of the executions indicates that the Russian military deliberately disarmed, lined up and executed prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention.

The analysts noted that they have recently observed an increase in the number of executions of Ukrainian POWs by the Russians along the entire front line. According to ISW, Russian commanders are likely to condone, encourage or directly order the execution of prisoners of war.

According to Yurii Bilousov, Head of the Department for Combating Crime in the Context of Armed Conflict, 93 cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war have been documented since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 80% of which took place in 2024.

As a reminder, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reacted to the information that the Russian occupiers had shot nine Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Kursk region. He stressed that these actions should not go unpunished.

Previously, in the village of New York, Donetsk region, the Russian military executed captured Ukrainian soldiers. The moment of execution was recorded by a drone.

In turn, Russian propaganda Z-channels began to justify and even praise the execution of captured Ukrainian soldiers by the Russian army.