Russian forces beat Ukrainian POW with rifle butt, then execute him on Pokrovsk axis
The Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office stated that the Russian military struck a Ukrainian prisoner of war with a rifle butt and then executed him by Russian forces on the Pokrovsk axis.
In November 2025, during an assault on positions near the village of Hnativka in Pokrovsk District, representatives of the Russian Federation surrounded and captured a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the Russians tied his hands, while another struck him several times on the head with a rifle butt. When the unarmed defender stopped responding, he was executed by gunfire.
Law enforcement officers emphasise once again that the deliberate killing of prisoners of war is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions and constitutes a serious international crime.
Under the procedural guidance of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, a pre-trial investigation has been initiated into a war crime that resulted in a person’s death.
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.
