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268 Ukrainian POWs Allegedly Killed by Russian Troops, Prosecutor General’s Office Says

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Amira Barkhush
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Tetiana Frolova
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268 Ukrainian POWs Allegedly Killed by Russian Troops, Prosecutor General’s Office Says
A Ukrainian soldier who returned from Russian captivity demonstrates how he walked whilst a prisoner of war, as he undergoes rehabilitation at a state rehabilitation center on September 16, 2024, in the Poltava Region, Ukraine. (Source: Getty Images)

Ukrainian authorities are investigating 75 criminal cases involving the alleged executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian forces, CNN reported on May 21, citing the Prosecutor General’s Office.

As of May 5, Ukrainian prosecutors had opened investigations into the suspected killings of 268 POWs by Russian troops, the office confirmed.

Yurii Bielousov, head of the war crimes department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, attributed the rise in executions to directives from senior Russian leadership.

“We didn’t yet see a written order, but we had several examples of oral orders,” Bielousov said.

The head of the war crime department pointed to statements made by Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a contributing factor to the rising number of executions. In March, Putin said that Ukrainian soldiers captured in Russia’s Kursk region should be treated as terrorists.

“Everyone knows how Putin treats people who they call terrorists. So, it’s almost a synonym for us to execute,” he said.

In comments made during the CNN investigation, Bielousov detailed the following breakdown of cases by year:

  • 2022: 8 criminal proceedings investigating the killing of 57 Ukrainian POWs;

  • 2023: 8 cases concerning the deaths of 11 POWs;

  • 2024: 39 cases involving the killing of 149 POWs;

  • 2025 (to date): 20 investigations into the deaths of 51 Ukrainian prisoners.

Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the secretariat at Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, suggested another motive behind the killings: battlefield expediency.

“It complicates military logistics, from their point of view. The Russian command made a simple decision… to shoot captured prisoners,” Okhrimenko said.

On May 23, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian troops executing two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war after capturing them near the village of Udachne in the Pokrovsk direction of the Donetsk region.

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