Vladimir Putin’s forces have executed a Ukrainian prisoner of war (PoW) with a sword, it has been alleged.
A photograph shared on Telegram apparently shows the medieval-style murder of a soldier by Russia.
His body was found laying in a pool of blood with a sword rupturing his chest and the inscription ‘For Kursk’, suggesting he was killed as revenge for the Ukrainian counterattack into Russia’s border region.
Remnants of gray tape are visible on the soldier’s hand, while burnt out military vehicles are seen in the background.
Metro.co.uk has chosen not to publish the photograph because of how graphic it is.
The alleged execution happened in the eastern Ukrainian town of Novohrodivka, in the region of Donetsk.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, said: ‘The Russians executed an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war with a sword.
‘Нis hands were bound with tape. Such actions constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.’
The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that an investigation has been opened into the Telegram post.
‘Footage of an alleged execution, with a sword, of an unarmed Ukrainian soldier with taped hands is spreading on the web. Preliminarily, the crime was committed in Novohrodivka, Donetsk region,’ prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said on X.
A blurred image posted alongside his post and his office’s statement showed the bloodied body in military fatigues.
Kostin said this month that Ukraine was investigating alleged executions of 73 Ukrainian prisoners.
In June, Ukraine opened an investigation of the suspected beheading of one of its servicemen by Russian forces.
The alleged execution comes as Russian forces continue to battle Ukrainian troops in Kursk ever since August 6 – which turned out to be the biggest foreign attack on Russian soil since World War Two.
Ukraine says its forces control about 100 villages in the region over an area of 500 square miles, which the Kremlin disputes.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address on Monday, said the incursion had slowed down Putin’s forces in the east, particularly on the rail and logistic hub of Pokrovsk.
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