Russia demands condemnation of Ukraine over execution of POWs

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Moscow demands that international organizations condemn the execution of Russian prisoners of war at the hands of the Kiev authorities and calls for a thorough investigation into the incident, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"We demand from international organizations to condemn this egregious crime, to conduct a thorough investigation of it," she said in a statement.

According to Zakharova, the West ignored evidence of Kiev's crimes against Russian military personnel.

"We have repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to the cruel and inhuman attitude of the Ukrainian side towards the detained Russian servicemen," she underlined.

"The videos regularly distributed by the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine themselves showed murders, torture, abuse, beatings, etc., committed by them," the spokesperson added.

"All this evidence of crimes was ignored by the 'collective West,' which actively supports Kiev in everything. Such approval from the US and European curators makes them accomplices in what the Ukrainian neo-Nazis they foster are doing," she further noted.

The Ukrainian armed forces executed more than 10 Russian prisoners of war, shooting them in the head at point blank, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday, noting that this was a crime that can't be presented as a "tragic exception".

"The intentional and methodical killing of more than ten immobilized Russian servicemen by the UAF degenerates with shots in the head at point blank cannot be presented as a 'tragic exception'," the ministry said.

This happened sometime in 2022/11.
In this video, we can see about a dozen Russian POWs with obvious signs of having been executed. Although this was not verifiable until this morning when we got the first part of the video leading up to this drone footage showing the executed. pic.twitter.com/6CBfE0nsnE

— Ghost (@mdfzeh) November 18, 2022

Russia underlined that the Ukrainian armed forces habitually brutally kill Russian prisoners of war, which is outright ignored by the West, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry stressed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his "henchmen" would have to answer before the court of history and the people of Russia for each and every tortured and killed Russian prisoner of war, the ministry added.

This is not the first violation toward Moscow this week, as a representative of the emergency services of the Kherson region said Thursday that Ukraine's forces were carrying out punitive measures in public as a demonstrative means of punishment against residents of Kherson for their support of Russia.

According to the Kherson official, the punitive measures, which included execution, are being carried out by the Ukrainian security forces under the leadership of western advisers. The main targets are pro-Russian activists who were unable to withdraw back with the Russian forces to the left bank of the Dnieper River.

This comes after Russia's Defense Ministry announced last week the complete withdrawal of Russian troops and equipment from the right bank of the Dnieper River, Kherson, as Moscow noted that there will be a need to build defenses on the left bank. Soon after, Ukrainian forces entered Kherson.

Zakhorva pledged that all those involved in the execution of Russian prisoners would be identified. "No one will escape retribution."

Russia ombudswoman urges condemnation

Russian ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said she had addressed the secretary general of the Council of Europe, the director of the OSCE/ODIHR, and the head of the Council of Europe committee, demanding they condemn the execution of Russian prisoners by the Ukrainian military.

"I consider it necessary to conduct a thorough investigation of this crime," Moskalkova stressed.

She revealed that she addressed the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, the Director of the OSCE ODIHR, the UN Special Commission expert, and the head of the Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT), demanding they "condemn these actions and within the framework of powers to demand an investigation of the crimes committed and punishment of those responsible."

Furthermore, Moskalkova underlined that no words could express the pain and bitterness of what they saw. Moskalkova also called it a crime against humanity.