CNN Video Shows Russian Troops Executing Surrendering Ukrainian Soldiers

6 September, 2024 Illustrative photo with a Russian soldier. Source: lenta.ru The American TV channel CNN has released a video showing the execution of three Ukrainian soldiers by the Russians.

The video, obtained exclusively by CNN, was filmed during fighting in late August near the embattled city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. The incident, described by a Ukrainian official who asked for some details to be withheld to protect the identity of the unit, is part of a pattern of apparent executions, seemingly increasing in pace this year, CNN reports. The troops emerge and stagger into the middle of the dusty track, then onto their knees, their hands placed on their heads.

Seconds later, the Ukrainian drone footage shows they lie face down, motionless, dust trailing nearby. According to journalists, all this is happening in the Pokrovsk sector.

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A frame from a CNN video showing the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russians. August 2024.

Ukraine. Source: CNN

Ukrainian defense intelligence sources have given CNN a list of 15 cases since November, most supported by drone video or audio intercepts. "The footage from the Pokrovsk district appears to reflect the relentlessly brutal tactics of the Russian military as they continue to advance in Ukraine's east," the journalists say.

The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder (part two of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). According to preliminary data from the prosecutor's office, at noon on August 27, 2024, the Russian armed forces attacked one of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Pokrovsk district with a drone. A fire broke out.

The Russians surrounded the Ukrainian position on three sides, law enforcement officials say. One of the four soldiers was seriously wounded in the battle. His comrades were surrounded and under heavy Russian fire, so they were forced to surrender.

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Ukrainian soldiers kneel a few seconds before they are killed by Russian soldiers. August 2024.

Ukraine. Frame from CNN video

Then the Ukrainian soldiers came out of the destroyed shelter and kneeled down with their hands behind their heads. At that moment, the Russian soldiers opened fire on them, the prosecutor's office said.

At the beginning of August, another brutal murder of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian criminals was confirmed.