Ukraine has urged the international criminal court to investigate footage circulating on social media that appeared to show Russian fighters killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
In the graphic clip that first circulated on Telegram, a detained combatant is seen standing in a shallow trench and smoking a cigarette. The soldier says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons.
Late on Monday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote on Twitter that the “horrific” video was more “proof this war is genocidal”.
Kuleba added that it was “imperative” that international criminal court prosecutor Karim Khan “launches an immediate ICC investigation into this heinous war crime”.
“Perpetrators must face justice,” he said.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said that he had sent the video to the country’s “international partners”.
“Once again, they violate Geneva conventions. They will not evade responsibility for their atrocities,” Lubinets wrote.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, appeared to condemn the alleged killing by posting a message on his Instagram account on Monday evening that read: “Glory to our Hero … Glory to Ukraine.”
The Guardian could not independently verify the video, or where it was filmed.
Kyiv has previously accused Moscow of torturing and killing prisoners since Russia invaded Ukraine.
In July, a video emerged that appeared to show a Russian soldier castrating and subsequently killing a Ukrainian prisoner. The UN human rights monitoring mission at the time said it was appalled by the footage.
Last month, Konstantin Yefremov, a senior Russian lieutenant who fled after serving in Ukraine, described to the Guardian how his country’s troops tortured prisoners of war and threatened some with rape.
Throughout the war, the Kremlin has also accused Ukrainian soldiers of executing Russian PoWs and the west of ignoring the incidents.
