The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turkrecalled that summary executions are a war crime and has deemed “troubling” images showing the alleged deaths of ten Russian soldiers in the Lugansk region of Ukraine, as it is “very likely” that they are authentic.
The events would have taken place in the town of Makivka and have been used by Moscow as an example of the alleged abuses committed by the Ukrainian side, which has already opened an investigation to try to clarify this event, as Turk pointed out this Friday.
Violent images from Makiivka, RPLugansk: Ucros force Russian military to surrender. Lying on the ground, they are then shot in the back. Then they try to fix all this from a quadrocopter… pic.twitter.com/OiZMDZsY35
— omy knmore (@omy2knmore) November 18, 2022
NEW VIDEO: #Ukrainians caught a number of #Russian soldiers in Makiivka (Luhansk).
NOTE: see how the last Orc OPENS FIRE on them! Never fully trust surrenders! #Ukraine #UkraineRussianWar #ukrainecounteroffensive #UkraineWarNews #UkraineUnderAttaсk pic.twitter.com/EoDQlBf2Mi
— Tibolemon (@OMonteyne2) November 18, 2022
“It is essential that all allegations of summary executions be investigated in an independent, impartial, complete, transparent, prompt and effective manner,” added the UN chief for human rights, whose office has already carried out a “preliminary analysis”.
Turk has advocated knowing “the full sequence of events” and that, In case of confirmation of some type of abusethose responsible are held accountable, since it does not seem to be a unique case, since there have already been “numerous complaints” against both parties since Russia began the invasion of Ukraine in February.
“People who are not fighting, including the military who have surrenderedare protected by international humanitarian law”, he stressed. For this reason, he warned that combatants must receive “clear instructions” that there can be no “retaliation” and that it is necessary to treat detainees in a “humane” way.
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Likewise, he also recalled that the bombardments against critical infrastructures, such as those perpetrated in recent weeks by Russian forces, can also constitute war crimes, since International Law establishes that operations must be limited to “specific and direct” attacks. against military objectives.
Since October 10, at least 77 civilians have died and another 272 have been injured as a result of these indiscriminate attacks, according to the High Commissioner, who has put at least eight people dead on Wednesday alone, including a two-year-old girl in the Zaporizhia region.