“Not random acts”: Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner reports record surge in Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs in 2024
The Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, told Ukrainska Pravda that Russians executed nearly twice as many Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in 2024 compared to the preceding two years of the war.
Dmytro Lubinets“As of December 13, 177 cases of Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed have been confirmed over the three years of the full-scale war. The situation has deteriorated dramatically, as 109 executions have been officially confirmed in 2024 alone,” he said.
Lubinets said his office receives most videos showing executions of Ukrainian soldiers from Ukrainian special services, although military units sometimes provide them. The commissioner also reviews videos that appear on social media, including those Russians themselves share.
Lubinets reports these war crimes to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN. However, he notes that the ICRC has never “publicly or privately accused the Russians of killing or torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war,” and UN reports first mentioned Russians executing Ukrainian soldiers in 2024.
When Lubinets contacted Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova, she promised a “legal response” to these facts. However, the Ukrainian Ombudsman expressed scepticism about this commitment.
One of the latest POW executions took place on November 24, 2024, near the village of Novodarivka in the Polohy district of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where Russian forces killed five Ukrainian soldiers, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office and Zaporizhzhia Oblast Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators also obtained a video recording of the shooting.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported at a Council on Human Rights, Gender Equality and Diversity meeting that as of June 2024, authorities have documented 342 cases of sexual violence committed by Russians in Ukraine, with most victims being men.
Read also: More men than women applied for compensation after experiencing sexual violence during the war
“According to a UN report, as of June this year, 342 cases of sexual violence committed by the Russians have been documented in Ukraine. Among victims were 236 men, 94 women and 12 minors, including ten girls and two boys. These are only official figures. These are only official figures. Unfortunately, the real scale of these crimes is much larger, and it is even difficult to imagine the full extent of the horror Russian criminals have committed in the occupied territories”, Ukrinform news agency Sybiha.
On December 18, Serhii Kyslytsia, Ukraine’s representative to the United Nations, stated that Russia’s numerous war crimes and atrocities in the war against Ukraine are not isolated acts of violence but a Kremlin policy to destroy Ukrainian culture, history and identity systematically.
Serhii Kyslytsia“Numerous credible UN reports, including those of the International Commission of Inquiry, as well as the findings of other international observers, document Russia’s widespread and deliberate commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, as well as gross violations and abuses of human rights,” he said in his speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, as reported by Ukrinform.
He highlighted that the list includes summary executions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and inhumane treatment of civilian detainees and prisoners of war.
“These atrocities are not random acts of violence, they are part of a calculated and systematic policy aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity, destroying cultural and historical markers and at the same time forcibly indoctrinating those who remain,” Kyslytsia emphasised.
The permanent representative stressed that Russian occupation authorities are destroying Ukrainian libraries, banning independent Ukrainian media, and forcibly imposing Russian passports on Ukrainian citizens to achieve these goals. However, Kyslytsia added, the most disturbing aspect is that Russians expose Ukrainian children to Russian education aimed at destroying their identity.
By way of background, at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on October 9, 2024, Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) researcher Iryna Siedova warned that Russian media has become a “Thousand Hills Radio,” manipulating 140 million people and inciting violence against Ukrainians. The CHRG advocates for new international legislation against genocide incitement.
Iryna SiedovaPreviously, the Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra expressed her appreciation for international partners who admire Ukraine’s efforts to reform its justice system amid the war. However, she criticised the lack of tangible action from these partners to reform global justice.
