An AP report has released disturbing footage from March 13 that shows the execution of four Ukrainian soldiers, by Russian troops, in the southern Ukrainian village of Piatykhatky.
The incident was recorded from two drones – one Ukrainian and one Russian – capturing very different accounts of the event. You can see the corresponding video via this link.
The Ukrainian drone video, obtained by the AP from European military officials, shows soldiers in uniforms, the markings of which are consistent with Russian forces, raising their weapons and shooting the four Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) from behind.
The shooting was brutally violent, so much so that one of the soldiers was decapitated.
“Out of all the executions that we’ve seen since late 2023, it’s one of the clearest cases. This is not a typical combat killing,” Rollo Collins, from the Center for Information Resilience a London-based group that specializes in visual investigations, said.
In contrast, the Russian drone video, which the AP secured from pro-Kremlin social media, ends abruptly with the men lying on the ground, still alive.
“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 shared the video.
Russian milbloggers who posted the edited video claim the assault was carried out by Russia’s 247th Airborne Regiment.
What did the two drone videos reveal about the execution?
The drone footage from Piatykhatky, in the Zaporizhzhia region, was recorded by Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Brigade and shared with Ukrainian authorities by European military officials. The AP received it anonymously, as the release was unauthorized.
The village of Piatykhatky has been devastated by intense fighting, with Russian troops raising their flag amid the ruins, as shown in a drone video posted by pro-Kremlin bloggers on March 11.
Two days later, both Russian and Ukrainian drones recorded the surrender of the four Ukrainian soldiers about 100 meters away.
Russian drone footage shows a kamikaze drone flying into the window of the house where the Ukrainians were sheltering followed by an intense flash of light.
The Ukrainian video captures one of the soldiers, arms raised and seemingly unarmed, leaving the destroyed house. A Russian soldier, gun aimed at him, directs the man to lie on the ground next to his comrades, who are already prone.
European military officials who analyzed the footage confirmed that the Russian soldiers could be identified by red and white markings on their uniforms.
The video then shows the Russians briefly searching the POWs before two additional Russian soldiers arrive and speak with their comrades before one pauses to use his radio.
The Russian video ends at this point by the Ukrainian footage shows one of the Russian soldiers walking toward the prisoners, raising his weapon in one hand, then opens fire, after which another soldier also begins to shoot.
While one of these soldier reloads, a third Russian joins in, firing at close range. The shots strike one of the men in the head, shattering his helmet. Finally, the soldier who stopped to reload finishes off the prisoners, methodically shooting each of them one by one.
Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Brigade, the unit to which the fallen soldiers belonged, has declined to comment, as the incident is under investigation as a potential war crime. Ukraine’s internal security agency confirmed it has opened an investigation into the killings.
Collins described the executions as “very much a quite clinical, methodical process,” adding, “It follows on from a very consistent sort of trend that we’ve seen since at least December 2023.”
According to Ukrainian prosecutors, at least 245 Ukrainian POWs have been murdered by Russian forces since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. These executions are alleged to be part of a deliberate strategy encouraged by top Russian officials.
“It’s definitely part of the policy, which is fully supported by the top leaders of the Russian Federation,” said Yuriy Bilousov, head of the war crimes department from Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office.
“This isn’t the action of specific commanders. It is supported from the top level,” he added.
Russia has also alleged that Ukrainian troops have also engaged in the systematic killing of Russian POWs, though they have not provided numbers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry recently released testimony from Russian POWs exchanged by Ukraine, claiming beatings, torture, and executions of wounded Russian fighters.
The Investigative Committee of Russia says it has opened over 5,700 criminal cases into alleged Ukrainian war crimes since the start of the Kremlin’s war.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented 24 separate incidents in which Russian troops executed 79 captured Ukrainian soldiers since late August, while finding only a single case where Ukrainian soldiers killed a Russian POW.
Bilousov emphasized that all such allegations against Ukrainian troops are under investigation.