Ukraine: Alarming Rise in Executions of Captured Ukrainian Military Personnel
03 February 2025
Kyiv, 3 February 2025 - The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine on today expressed alarm at a sharp rise in reported executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian armed forces. Since the end of August 2024, the Mission recorded 79 such executions in 24 separate incidents.
The Mission also documented the execution of a wounded and incapacitated Russian soldier by the Ukrainian armed forces in 2024.
Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were in physical custody of the Russian armed forces were shot dead on the spot. Witness accounts also described the killings of unarmed and injured Ukrainian soldiers.
For the 24 incidents, the Mission obtained and analysed video and photo material published by Ukrainian and Russian sources showing executions or dead bodies. It also conducted detailed interviews with witnesses. Geolocated and chronolocated incidents indicate that the reported executions took place in areas where Russian offensive operations were underway. These reports were assessed as credible.
“These incidents did not occur in a vacuum. Public figures in the Russian Federation have explicitly called for inhumane treatment, and even execution, of captured Ukrainian military personnel,” said Danielle Bell, Head of the Mission. “Combined with broad amnesty laws, such statements have the potential to incite or encourage unlawful behaviour.”
In 2024, the Mission recorded at least 3 such calls by public officials of the Russian Federation as well as a number of social media posts by military groups linked to the Russian armed forces reportedly ordering or approving executions.
International humanitarian law prohibits ordering that there shall be no survivors, threatening an adversary therewith, or conducting hostilities on this basis. Declaring that “no quarter” will be given is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.
“All allegations of execution of captured Ukrainian military personnel and public statements calling for, or condoning, such actions must be investigated,” said Bell. “Military commanders and superiors should also provide clear and unequivocal orders to protect and treat humanely all captured military personnel and persons hors de combat.”
The UN Human Rights Office has reported extensively on the treatment of prisoners of war by the Russian Federation and Ukraine:
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