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Russian Forces Execute Four Unarmed Ukrainian POWs in Kharkiv Region
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![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
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Russian forces executed four captured Ukrainian servicemen near the settlement of Veterynarne in the Kharkiv region, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General on April 12.
Prosecutors stated the executions took place on April 11 after Russian troops stormed Ukrainian positions near Veterynarne in the Derhachi community.
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Investigators established that four soldiers from the mechanized brigade of the 14th Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were taken prisoner and then deliberately shot with automatic weapons.
The 14th Army Corps described the episode as another Russian war crime and stated that the servicemen were unarmed when they were killed.
It added that the execution was carried out after the assault on the position and called the act a grave violation of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war and international criminal law.
The Office of the Prosecutor General announced that a pre-trial investigation has been opened under parts of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which covers cruel treatment of prisoners of war resulting in death .
“All necessary measures are being taken to fully establish the circumstances of the crime,” the prosecutor’s office stated.
The 14th Army Corps claimed that such executions have become systemic in Russia’s war against Ukraine and pointed to what it described as approval of such crimes by senior Russian commanders.
The reported execution in Kharkiv region comes amid continued Ukrainian investigations into the killing of captured service members, which officials have described as one of the most serious recurring categories of alleged Russian war crimes during the full-scale invasion.
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In February, the Kyiv court sentenced a Russian soldier to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of killing two Ukrainian prisoners of war during fighting in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025.
Investigators said the two Ukrainian defenders had surrendered, laid down their weapons, and raised their hands when the soldier and others opened fire from an ambush, killing them both.
The court found there was no military justification for the shooting and ruled that the defendant understood the order was criminal and could have refused it.
The case was classified as a violation of the laws and customs of war committed by a group and resulting in the deaths of people protected under international humanitarian law.
