Ombudsman calls shooting of Ukrainian POWs by Russians systemic policy encouraged at highest level

The shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) is a systemic policy of the Russian Federation and it is encouraged by the leadership of the aggressor state, said Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

"The actions of the Russian military, who shoot unarmed Ukrainian soldiers, are a gross violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the norms of IHL," Lubinets said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The Ombudsman informs the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations (UN) about such facts, which are supposed to record these crimes.

At the same time, he stressed that such executions are not an isolated incident, but a systemic policy of the Russian Federation, which is encouraged at the highest level. "It is necessary not only to document such cases, but to thoroughly investigate them and bring the criminals to justice," the ombudsman noted.

On May 21, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Heorhiy Tykhy, stated that the executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russians had become systemic, which indicates a policy approved by the top leadership of the Russian Federation, and called for all those responsible for these crimes to be brought to full international responsibility.

Earlier, CNN reported that it had received intercepted radio communications and drone recordings that likely record Russian orders to execute Ukrainian servicemen who surrender. In particular, it concerns the execution of six Ukrainian fighters in eastern Zaporizhia region last November. A leading UN investigator and a Western intelligence official told CNN that radio transmissions and drone recordings are consistent with other cases in which Russian forces allegedly executed Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered.