Ukraine investigates suspected beheading of soldier by Russia, prosecutors say

By REUTERS

Published: JUNE 18, 2024 19:33

A funeral service employee looks at bodies of civilians, collected from streets to local cemetery, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine April 6, 2022. (photo credit: Oleg Pereverzev/Reuters) — A funeral service employee looks at bodies of civilians, collected from streets to local cemetery, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine April 6, 2022.

(photo credit: Oleg Pereverzev/Reuters)

The Ukrainian military had received information on Monday that members of a unit of Russian forces had ordered their subordinates not to capture Ukrainian servicemen and to behead them.

Ukraine is investigating the suspected beheading of one of its servicemen by Russian forces in an occupied part of the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

Russia, which has repeatedly denied its forces carried out war crimes during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, has made no comment on the allegation.

"The fact of decapitation of a Ukrainian defender was recorded in the Donetsk region," Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote on the X social media platform.

In a statement, the general prosecutor's office said the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier had been identified on a damaged armored vehicle during an aerial reconnaissance of the area.

It said the Ukrainian military had received information on Monday that members of a unit of Russian forces in Donetsk region's Volnovaha district had ordered their subordinates not to capture Ukrainian servicemen and to behead them.

A BOY walks past graves of civilians who, according to local residents in Bucha, were killed by Russian soldiers. The inscription on the cross in the middle reads: 'Unknown'. (credit: REUTERS/VLADYSLAV MUSIIENKO)

Kostin posted an image on X of a damaged military vehicle that had an object on its bonnet that had been pixelated. Reuters could not independently verify the image.

Russian military's recent notable atrocities

Kostin says that Ukraine has documented nearly 130,000 war crimes committed by Russia.

Kyiv, in early 2023, accused Russian forces of shooting dead a captured Ukrainian sniper after he said "Glory to Ukraine" in a video posted on social media.