Russian forces executed four Ukrainian prisoners of war near the village of Piatykhatky in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to drone footage published by the Associated Press on Thursday.
The video, taken by Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Brigade, and verified by the Center for Information Resilience, (CIR) shows the four unarmed Ukrainian soldiers emerging from a ruined building at gunpoint.
One raises his hands in surrender before all four lie face down in the grass. Moments later, Russian troops—identifiable by their insignia—open fire, shooting each of the prisoners in the back.
“This is not a typical combat killing. This is an illegal action,” CIR’s Rollo Collins told AP.
The news outlet also obtained a second video of the same scene, this time filmed by a Russian drone. Shared on pro-Kremlin social media, the footage cuts off before the shooting takes place. A military blogger claimed the prisoners had surrendered unharmed.
“As a result of the work done by our guys, the enemy decided not to be killed and came out with their hands up,” wrote a Russian military blogger who posted the video.
Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Brigade declined to comment on the death of the soldiers, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident as a suspected war crime. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) confirmed it has opened an investigation.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Ukrainian prosecutors report at least 245 POW executions by Russian forces since 2022. Since August 2024, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented 91 cases of extrajudicial killings of Ukrainian POWs. In the same period, it recorded a single instance of Ukrainian forces killing a Russian POW.
