You're reading: Kremlin’s mercenaries post videos of captive Ukrainian soldiers; human rights activists charge war crimes committed (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

Editor's Note: The Kyiv Post is not publishing the most graphic videos of human rights abuses and war crimes allegedly committed by the Kremlin-backed fighters waging war in eastern Ukraine.

Extremely graphic video and photographic material appeared on a number of Kremlin-backed separatist websites showing evidence of torture and evidence of war crimes being committed against captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Kremlin mercenaries, often led by the Russian army, have seized more ground in the eastern Donbas region in recent takes, taking over the Donetsk Airport and a Ukrainian forces checkpoint in the village of Krasny Partizan, close to Horlivka in Donetsk Oblast on Jan. 23.

Shortly afterwards, a separatist information agency released a video showing the abandoned building of the checkpoint, a torn Ukrainian flag and the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen on the roadside.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Kremlin separatists show bodies of Ukrainian servicemen after taking over a checkpoint in the village of Krasny Partizan.

Earlier, the Kremlin’s Aleksander Zakharchenko, who heads the separatist fighters in Donets, promised on Jan 20 to pay tribute to Ukrainian soldiers “because they fought worthily… We respect them as an enemy for their heroism and courage.”

In reality, the mercenaries show little mercy to captured and killed servicemen. Close-up footage shows piled bodies of Ukrainian troops with insulting, humiliating comments by the separatists.

Another video that popped up on YouTube on Jan. 24 showed 12 captured Ukrainian soldiers, mostly from Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyi Rih, sitting outside the building with their hands tied. At least two of them are severely wounded with signs of torture and four other killed. The video was actively shared in social networks and was viewed more than 271,000 times.  

The separatists ask the soldiers whether they have children and wives. During the questioning one of them says he doesn’t have his own family. “There’s only my old mother,” the soldier answers. “Old mother? Well, then we can shoot him,” says one of the fighters.  Then the video shows the scene of the dead Ukrainian serviceman lying on the ground with his head blown up. “Maybe his mother will recognize him,” one of the separatist says. 

Krassimir Yankov, Amnesty International’s Ukraine researcher, believes such graphic video content should not be spread over the internet even though it exposes war crimes.

“Some of the families of killed may not even know about their brothers or sons. It won’t be good for them to find this in such a way, so I do believe such videos shouldn’t be shown,” Yankov said.

More video material popped when the Donetsk Airport was overrun by the Russian mercenaries on Jan. 22. It shows insurgent leaders parading captured Ukrainian soldiers in the streets of Donetsk, violating the Geneva Convention’s ban on respectful treatment of prisoners of war.

The separatists ask the soldiers whether they have children and wives. During the questioning one of them says he doesn’t have his own family. “There’s only my old mother,” the soldier answers. “Old mother? Well, then we can shoot him,” says one of the fighters.  Then the video shows the scene of the dead Ukrainian serviceman lying on the ground with his head blown up. “Maybe his mother will recognize him,” one of the separatist says. 

Yulia Gorbunova, Human Rights Watch’s researcher on Ukraine, Russia and Belarusm, believes that parading detainees and subjecting them to violence are ware crimes.

“Tortures and killings could be qualified as war crimes,” Gorbunova told the Kyiv Post. “During the parade of prisoners in Donetsk, the prisoners were subjected to humiliating and degrading treatment. It is a violation of international humanitarian law regarding the prohibition of outrages upon personal dignity.”  

Gorbunova is certain Ukraine needs to ratify the Rome Statute as soon as possible in order to effectively investigate such crimes. Ukraine signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 2000, but later the ratification process stalled as it requires the changes in the Constitution.

According to Yankov, many videos raise concern over the treatment of captured soldiers.

“That video which shows one of the pro-Russian rebels known as Givi hitting the head of a captured Ukrainian soldier with a gun is rather violent,” Yankov says. “And another one, where separatists took one of the captive cyborgs to the bus stop soon after the attack in Donetsk.” In that clip, raging civilians beat and insulted the captive, while he kept silent.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Kremlin-backed mercenaries show off captured, beaten and killed Ukrainian soldiers on video.

Andrew Stroehlein, European Media Director of the Human Rights Watch, tweeted on Jan. 22 “Seeing video of captured Ukraine soldier paraded & beaten at site of bus attack in Donetsk. Not good: shouldn’t be done, shouldn’t be shown.”  

In another clip, a Kremlin fighter cuts off the Ukrainian insignias of tied-up, kneeling Ukrainian soldier and stuff them in their mouths, forcing them to eat them.

In the meantime, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council authorized the government to initiate an appeal to the Hague Tribunal on crimes against humanity committed by Kremlin-backed terrorists against Ukrainians as well as recognize the self-proclaimed people’s republics in Donetsk and Luhansk as terrorist organizations.

Earlier the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights said that in territories under the control of separatists, serious human rights abuses by the armed groups continue to be reported. The rights abuses including torture, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, summary executions, forced labor, sexual violence, as well as the destruction and illegal seizure of property.

Such evidence could possibly lead the European Union to take a hard line against Russia by imposing more sanctions on the Kremlin following President Vladimir Putin’s new offensive in southeastern Ukraine. Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign relations chief, said further escalation would inevitably lead to a grave deterioration of relations on Jan. 24.