Ukrainian Special Forces Track Down and Capture Russian Soldiers Behind Ukrainian POW Killings

Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces tracked down the Russian soldiers responsible for killing two Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). Some of the fighters were eliminated, while three were captured and are now giving testimony.

This was reported by the Special Operations Forces on January 17 on their account of Facebook.

“Russian forces executed two Ukrainian Territorial Defense  fighters who had been taken prisoner a few days earlier in one of the directions. They believed their crime would go unpunished,” the unit wrote.

Meanwhile, a unit of the Special Operations Forces was planning an operation to eliminate the Russian group responsible for the execution and recover the bodies of the fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

The captured Russian soldiers turned out to be marines from the 40th Arctic Brigade. During interrogation, they admitted to capturing two Territorial Defense soldiers and reporting it to their company commander.

“The company commander ordered the Russian soldiers via radio to execute the captured Ukrainian troops. Upon hearing this, the Territorial Defense fighters attempted to escape but were immediately fired upon by Russian soldiers with the call signs ‘Yaryi,’ ‘Lebed,’ ‘Boom,’ and ‘Belyi,’” the statement read.

The Special Operations Forces eliminated the last three Russian soldiers during the mission, while ‘Yaryi’ and two others were captured alive.

The unit reminded that the execution of POWs is a blatant violation of the Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime.

Russian forces reportedly executed three Ukrainian prisoners of war on January 3, near the settlement of Neskuchne in the Volnovakha district of the Donetsk region.