The Ukrainian authorities announced the initiation of an investigation into the possible shooting of six unarmed Ukrainian soldiers by the Russian military in the town of Avdiyivka and two more in the nearby village of Vesele.
Earlier, the Russian side declared full control over the city.
The press service of the Donetsk regional prosecutor's office reported on Sunday, February 18, that criminal proceedings were opened in connection with the violation of the laws and customs of war, which led to intentional murder.
According to the investigation, a message appeared on the Telegram channel about the shooting of six captured Ukrainian soldiers at one of the positions in the city of Avdiyivka.
"The defenders were seriously injured and could not move on their own, they were waiting for evacuation," prosecutors emphasized.
"The Russian armed forces systematically and cynically violate the norms of international humanitarian law on the territory of Donetsk region. The information spread on social networks demonstrates the killing of unarmed Ukrainian soldiers and serves as another evidence of the crimes committed by the occupiers," the Donetsk region prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Also, there is a video recording with a fragment of the killing of two more Ukrainian soldiers in a forest strip near the village of Vesele, Bakhmut district. On Sunday, the official Telegram channel of the Ground Forces of Ukraine posted a video, probably taken from a drone, showing people in military uniform in a narrow trench.
The footage shows how an armed person, probably a Russian serviceman, approaches two people in uniform, probably soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and then shoots them both.
The Ukrainians in the footage do not seem to be resisting and are in a narrow trench by themselves. After some time, the Russian soldier is likely to shoot the wounded again.
"Not wanting to leave the captives alive, the occupier deliberately killed them with automatic weapons," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The killing of prisoners of war is a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and is classified as a grave international crime.
Dmytro Lykhova, spokesman for the operational and strategic grouping of the "Tavria" troops, said in a comment that on the evening of February 18, information on the alleged shooting of Ukrainian prisoners in Avdiivka was still being established.
"There is neither denial nor confirmation. The investigation is ongoing, and there is no way to confirm or deny it yet, but the Russians have already committed war crimes on more than one occasion. They will bear responsibility for this," Lykhovi said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet responded to these reports. Ukrainian prosecutors have repeatedly accused Russia of killing prisoners of war.
Moscow denies these accusations.
It is also known that on February 18, the DeepState project published information that, according to their data, six Ukrainian servicemen were shot in Avdiivka at the "Museum" ("Zenith") positions, presumably on February 15.
"The brothers recognized the fighters from the video that recently spread on the Internet. In the footage, shot dead bodies are lying in the premises of Garage No. 1," the DeepState Telegram channel noted.
Analysts also pointed out that the museum is located on the territory of the former Zenit military unit.
"Due to the fact that the positions were surrounded for several days, everyone who could walk had to fight their way to the main forces. "Unfortunately, there were four wounded who could not move, and two who still could, but did not have a chance to break through without evacuation," the message reads.
"Slidstvo.Info" publication spoke with the mother, wife and sister of three Ukrainian servicemen who were stationed at the "Zenith" positions in Avdiivka. According to them, they recognized their brother, husband and son on the video from the Russian public, where the dead can be seen in the military uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"I recognized him by his tattoo. His colleague confirmed to me that it was him," the wife of one of the servicemen was quoted as saying in the investigation.
The mother of another serviceman, Inna, said that her son was wounded on February 14 and had been waiting for evacuation since then: "They waited for a car for three days, he was not wounded then, and on the 14th he was wounded, he had shrapnel wounds, his back ..." Inna is quoted in the article.
In December 2023, the Ukrainian military command reported that Russian servicemen near Avdiivka shot dead two Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered. The drone video was posted online on December 2.
In March 2023, a video circulating on social networks showed Russians killing an unarmed Ukrainian soldier after saying "Glory to Ukraine!"
The deceased was 42-year-old Oleksandr Matsievskyi, a sniper of the 119th separate brigade of TRO of the Chernihiv region.
The video of the shooting shows a Ukrainian soldier standing in a forest and smoking in a trench or dug hole, then saying "Glory to Ukraine" and then being shot. In the spring of 2023, a video of the murder, probably of a Ukrainian soldier by a Russian soldier, began to spread. In very harsh footage, the beheading of a still-living captive was filmed.
For its part, in November last year, Russia announced the shooting of Russian soldiers during their capture in the village of Makiivka, Luhansk region.
Then, on the video of the Ukrainian military, it was recorded how a group of Russians exits the building with raised hands and surrenders as prisoners. However, at some point the shooting starts.
Later, the video shows the bodies of at least 11 Russian soldiers.
The Kremlin accused Ukraine of a war crime. However, international experts emphasized that the situation is not clear-cut.
The point is that the video shows the moment when one of the Russian soldiers opened fire first during the capture of most of his comrades.
This action of the Russian soldiers can be regarded as a "simulation of surrender".
According to the Geneva Convention, simulating surrender to shoot at the enemy is considered a war crime.
