Ukraine Accuses Russia of Executing Wounded Prisoners After Taking Over Avdiivka City

Russian troops in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Common/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they had opened an investigation into the alleged shooting by Russian troops of six unarmed Ukrainian soldiers in the town of Avdiivka, and two others in a village in the same region, after Russia claimed full control of the town.

"An investigation into the shooting of unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war in Avdiivka and Vesele has been launched," said the prosecutor's office in the Donetsk region via its Telegram channel, reported by Reuters, February 19.

The Donetsk prosecutor's office said video footage taken with a drone showed a Russian soldier shooting two captured Ukrainian soldiers at close range in the village of Vesele.

"Not wanting to let the prisoners live, the invaders killed them with automatic weapons," the office said, without saying when the incident occurred.

Earlier, the official Telegram channel of Ukrainian ground forces on Sunday shared a video apparently taken from a drone showing people in uniform in a narrow trench.

An armed person identified by the post as Russian, is seen approaching two people in uniform identified as Ukrainians and then discharges his weapon and appears to shoot them both.

The Ukrainians in the footage do not appear to be trying to defend themselves and are in a narrow trench in a single file, when another soldier approaches and appears to arrest them both.

After the initial confrontation, the two injured men are seen falling sideways in the ditch, twitching. Another person is then seen standing back for a moment, before appearing to shoot them both again.

Russia's Defense Ministry did not respond to a Reuters email sent outside regular business hours seeking comment on the accusation, the latest in a series of accusations leveled by Ukrainian prosecutors that killed prisoners of war. Russia denies the claim.