Russian troops execute Ukrainian soldier attempting to surrender on Siversk front
The Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office stated that Russian occupying troops shot dead a Ukrainian serviceman on the Siversk front as he attempted to surrender.
Video screenshot provided by the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office“In December 2025, a serviceman of the Russian Armed Forces discovered a Ukrainian soldier hiding in an outbuilding on the grounds of a partially destroyed property during a mop-up operation of a residential area near the village of Sviato-Pokrovske in the Siversk hromada. The enemy took cover behind a nearby house and treacherously fired at the Ukrainian soldier when he came out with his hands raised to surrender. Wounded, he tried to take shelter in another building, but the occupier shot him dead from his ambush with an automatic weapon,” the statement reads.
Under the procedural guidance of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, a pre-trial investigation under Article 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine has been launched into a war crime resulting in the death of a person.
Urgent investigative and search activities are underway to establish all the circumstances of the incident and identify the Russian serviceman responsible.
The prosecutor’s office pointed out that the killing of prisoners of war is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions and constitutes a serious international crime.
Earlier, DeepState, a Ukrainian group of military analysts, stated that Russian troops had executed a Ukrainian prisoner of war in the settlement of Sviato-Pokrovske, in the Bakhmut District, Donetsk Oblast.
On November 27, Russian forces shot and killed five Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner near the settlement of Zelenyi Hai in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
On 19 November 2025, Russians executed five Ukrainian POWs in the Pokrovsk District, Donetsk Oblast.
On July 24, the OSCE invoked the Moscow Mechanism after 41 participating states, in consultation with Ukraine, requested that the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights examine the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russia. Ukraine established a mission of three experts on August 15 to investigate possible violations of OSCE commitments, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law.
The OSCE mission found that Russia systematically denies Ukrainian combatants prisoner of war status, subjects them to widespread torture and ill-treatment, including severe beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, and mock executions, and conducts arbitrary killings and executions both on the battlefield and in detention.
Russian officials’ public statements declaring “no quarter will be given” encourage summary executions. Detention conditions fall below international standards, with overcrowding, inadequate food and medical care, and forced labor. POWs are denied fair trial guarantees through coerced confessions and unfair proceedings, while family communication and International Committee of the Red Cross access remain severely restricted. The mission concluded these violations constitute war crimes and, in some cases, arguably crimes against humanity.
At least 13,500 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been detained by Russia since February 2022. Approximately 169 have died in captivity, nearly 6,800 have been released, and an estimated 6,300 remain in detention across multiple sites in Russia and temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.
