Videos allegedly showing Russian soldiers castrating and murdering a bound and gagged Ukrainian combatant have circulated on social networks, generating an accusation of alleged war crimes by the United Nations, as well as an investigation of possible torture.
These are three videos where an apparent soldier with yellow and blue patches, in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, appears on the ground, with his hands tied behind his back, being gagged, mutilated and then shot.
The videos first appeared on a pro-Russian Telegram channel; however, the authenticity of the videos and the nationality of those involved have not been confirmed, reported CNN.
In the first video, the victim appears being gagged with at least four men around, one of whom appears in a Russian uniform with the “Z” insignia, a symbol associated with the invasion of Russia to Ukraine.
The second images show the victim writhing on the ground while a man wearing blue surgical gloves in an apparent Russian uniform cuts the victim’s underwear with a box cutter, the the same one used to castrate him. In the video, the perpetrators can be heard saying “hug him, hug him”, in the Russian language.
In the third video, the victim appears bound and mutilated, receiving a shot in the head. He was then dragged away by the executioners of him.
They condemn the atrocious images
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated that it is dismayed by the videos. They indicated in a statement issued on Friday night that “the torture and summary executions of prisoners of war and persons hors de combat are war crimes.”
“Unfortunately this is only the last of a series of videos that have documented torture and extrajudicial executions of prisoners of war and persons hors de combat, committed by the warring parties,” the Mission said in a lengthy statement.
For its part, the The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine announced the beginning of a criminal investigation, which will be based on the results of the video processing and will seek to take measures to establish the circumstances of the castration and murder of a suspected Ukrainian soldier by Russian forces.
The High Representative of the Union European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, strongly condemned on Friday that the “current war of aggression against Russia’s legitimate and unjustified act against Ukraine and its people brings more horrible atrocities day by day“
“Evidence in the form of horrifying video images has been widely shared today on pro-Kremlin social networks, in which Russian soldiers commit a heinous atrocity against a Ukrainian prisoner of war,” Borrell added in the statement.
With information from CNN