Heartbreaking footage allegedly shows Russian troops executing nine Ukrainian soldiers as they begged for mercy on the front lines.
The drone video was reportedly filmed near the village of Ivanivske, near Bakhmut, in the occupied Donetsk region.
It is said to be the third cold-blooded execution of surrendering troops in the last month, according to sources.
Ukrainian soldiers can be seen emerging from a frontline trench before dropping their weapons and raising their hands behind their heads in surrender.
Putin’s soldiers then raise their machine guns on the helpless soldiers, allegedly killing all nine.
Drone video shows a suspected Russian soldier (left) raising his weapon at suspected Ukrainian soldiers (right).
Ukrainian soldiers can be seen emerging from a frontline trench as the Russians gain territory before allegedly being shot at while surrendering.
The drone video was reportedly filmed near the village of Ivanivske (pictured), near Bakhmut, on the front lines of the war.
‘Russians shoot Ukrainian soldiers [who] handed over to captivity in the village of Ivanivske near Bakhmut,” Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another Telegram channel, No to Crime, said of the alleged carnage: ‘A video of another war crime committed by the Russian occupiers was posted online.
“On the outskirts of the village of Ivanovske, near Bakhmut, they shot 9 Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered.”
The Russian opposition channel February Morning reported: ‘The invaders shot 9 unarmed Ukrainian prisoners in the direction of Bakhmut. This is at least the third shooting of prisoners in a month. The barbarism of Putin’s non-humans knows no limits.’
Dmytro Lubinets, Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, accused Putin’s forces of a bloody war crime for the alleged massacre of soldiers who should have been taken as prisoners of war according to international standards.
“Another war crime allegedly took place on February 24, 2024 in the Bakhmut district,” he said.
‘The video we obtained shows the Ukrainian soldiers surrendering: with their hands raised in the air, showing that they were unarmed and posed no threat.
‘The Russians were supposed to take them prisoner, but instead they shot them mercilessly. The exact number of Ukrainians executed by the Russians is unknown, but there were probably at least seven.
‘They were members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Such an execution is a war crime. Now we also know which military unit of the Russian army the soldiers who mercilessly executed the Ukrainians belonged to.’
Lubinets said: ‘This case should be registered as another violation of international humanitarian law by Russia.
‘I will immediately send official letters to the UN and ICRC to ensure that the organizations record and publicly acknowledge that the Russian military is killing Ukrainian prisoners.
‘For the Russian army, the Geneva Conventions, the rules and customs of war mean nothing. They act according to their own unspoken “conventions”, “rules” and “customs”: cruelty, meanness and humility. These murders of prisoners of war are not isolated cases. They must be punished.”
Ukrainian outlet Deep State said the killed soldiers were from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade or a “related unit.”
The channel said: ‘The Russians are monsters. They only understand strength and only when they are treated the way they are treated. “It is a difficult task to motivate the enemy to stop doing this, because anyone can be captured.”
The images show several soldiers in the trenches, with Ukrainian and Russian flags identifying each side, as they approach each other.
This comes just a week after another shocking drone video allegedly showed two Ukrainian soldiers being shot by a Russian fighter as they appeared to surrender while sitting in frontline trenches.
Footage showed several soldiers in the trenches, with Ukrainian and Russian flags identifying each side, as they approached each other.
Two soldiers, supposedly Ukrainian, reportedly surrendered to the Russian fighter, who mercilessly shot them both several times as they lay on the ground.
The Ukrainian soldiers died from their wounds, according to local media reports.
“The Russians once again demonstrated their attitude towards international humanitarian law by shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war,” the Ukrainian military said.
The video, posted by Ukrainian ground forces on the social media platform Telegram, was allegedly taken on the front line near the town of Wesele in the Donetsk region on Sunday morning.
Captured by a drone flying overhead, the clip shows the two soldiers, marked as Ukrainians by the country’s flag superimposed over the images, running through a winding trench that runs through a battlefield scarred by bombing.
But as they round a bend, they come face to face with a Russian soldier.
In an apparent attempt to surrender, the Ukrainians sit on the ground. However, the Russian soldier (also marked with a flag) grabs one of the men.
Suddenly, smoke is seen coming from his rifle as he shoots one of the Ukrainians at point-blank range, causing him to fall backwards.
The Russian then steps back and, after a pause of a few seconds, opens fire on both men, firing several bullets into their bodies, which tremble as they are hit.
The footage ends with the Ukrainians lying motionless on the floor of the trench and with the Russian soldier turning away from their bodies.
kyiv has launched a war crimes investigation following reports that Russian troops shot captured Ukrainian soldiers. Video of the shooting could not be independently verified.