UN documents dozens of summary executions of Ukrainian and Russian POWs
UN human rights monitors have documented dozens of summary killings of prisoners of war (POWs) carried out by both Russian and Ukrainian forces, as well as the use of torture, human shields and other abuses against POWs since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to a new report published today.
The report, by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was based on interviews with about 400 POWs, half of them Ukrainians who were released and the other half Russians held captive in Ukraine. The team said it had no access to POWs held in Russia or Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
The mission said it documented some 40 summary executions over the course of the 13-month war, and that the findings were based on confirmed cases and the actual number was likely higher.
Matilda Bogner, the head of the UN monitoring mission, laid out abuses allegedly committed by both sides at a news conference in Kyiv. She noted, however, that Russia’s invasion was at the root of violence against civilians and POWs.
The report found that while abuse of POWs took place on both sides, overall Russian POWs “were treated in better fashion” and that abuse was far more common against Ukrainians — more than 9 in 10 of interviewees reported abuse — than against Russians, about half of whom testified to abuse.
The agency said the cases “may constitute war crimes” but that the findings were “influenced in substantial measure by the level and kind of access to detention facilities and POWs”. It said:
Summary executions and attacks against POWs and persons hors de combat are prohibited under international law, and where deliberate, constitute war crimes.
Source : TheGuardian
