Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
I saw the video a couple of days ago. I showed it to my husband who is from a military family and he was sickened and horrified. I do not recommend viewing it. I've been waiting for some vetting and this is reasonable. Torturing or killing POW's discourages surrenders at the very least.
https://www.bbc.com/news/60907259
Does video show Russian prisoners being shot?
By Reality Check & BBC Monitoring
BBC News
Published
5 days ago
Ukrainian authorities are investigating video footage which has been claimed to show Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners of war in the legs.
The grainy video has been circulating on social media after first appearing in the early hours of Sunday morning (27 March). Since then, it's been widely reposted by pro-Russian accounts on various platforms.
Ukrainian armed forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Russia was "filming and distributing staged videos" in order to discredit Ukraine's treatment of Russian prisoners.
However, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said there would be an immediate investigation and added: "I would like to remind all our military, civilians and defence forces that abusing prisoners of war is a war crime."
The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner said she was "very concerned" and confirmed that the video would be investigated.
...
The footage - which is too graphic to show in full - purports to show a number of captured soldiers lying on the ground. Some have bags over their heads, and many appear to be bleeding from leg wounds. It is not clear how or when they were injured.
The prisoners are questioned by their captors, asking them about their units and activities in the area.
At one point, three men are brought out of a vehicle and apparently shot in the legs by a soldier with an assault weapon.
These men are then questioned.
...
The prisoners are being questioned in Russian. A BBC Monitoring languages expert says the accents of the questioners "are in line with what you'd expect from Ukrainians speaking Russian".
Another expert confirmed that they seem to have eastern Ukrainian accents, pointing to the use of "hovorit" ("speak") rather than the Russian "govorit".
The prisoners are being questioned in Russian. A BBC Monitoring languages expert says the accents of the questioners "are in line with what you'd expect from Ukrainians speaking Russian".
Another expert confirmed that they seem to have eastern Ukrainian accents, pointing to the use of "hovorit" ("speak") rather than the Russian "govorit".
...
In the most disturbing part of the video, three men appear to be shot in the legs at close range with an assault weapon.
There's been some debate on social media as to whether the footage is genuine or staged, with some people claiming there isn't enough blood, evidence of exit wounds or shouting and screaming from the victims for it to be real.
We showed the video to several trauma surgeons and former military doctors who gave us their expert opinion but wished to remain anonymous.
One said he had treated soldiers who had sustained gunshot injuries who didn't shout or scream and said the lack of bleeding on some of the wounded soldiers could be explained by them having had a tourniquet applied (visible in the video).
He said: "It is my opinion that the footage cannot be categorised as 'fake' purely based on the images seen. This requires an investigation for war crimes."
Another doctor said: "It appears genuine... these meet the description of punishment shootings to the limbs"...
https://www.bbc.com/news/60907259
Does video show Russian prisoners being shot?
By Reality Check & BBC Monitoring
BBC News
Published
5 days ago
Ukrainian authorities are investigating video footage which has been claimed to show Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners of war in the legs.
The grainy video has been circulating on social media after first appearing in the early hours of Sunday morning (27 March). Since then, it's been widely reposted by pro-Russian accounts on various platforms.
Ukrainian armed forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Russia was "filming and distributing staged videos" in order to discredit Ukraine's treatment of Russian prisoners.
However, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said there would be an immediate investigation and added: "I would like to remind all our military, civilians and defence forces that abusing prisoners of war is a war crime."
The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner said she was "very concerned" and confirmed that the video would be investigated.
...
The footage - which is too graphic to show in full - purports to show a number of captured soldiers lying on the ground. Some have bags over their heads, and many appear to be bleeding from leg wounds. It is not clear how or when they were injured.
The prisoners are questioned by their captors, asking them about their units and activities in the area.
At one point, three men are brought out of a vehicle and apparently shot in the legs by a soldier with an assault weapon.
These men are then questioned.
...
The prisoners are being questioned in Russian. A BBC Monitoring languages expert says the accents of the questioners "are in line with what you'd expect from Ukrainians speaking Russian".
Another expert confirmed that they seem to have eastern Ukrainian accents, pointing to the use of "hovorit" ("speak") rather than the Russian "govorit".
The prisoners are being questioned in Russian. A BBC Monitoring languages expert says the accents of the questioners "are in line with what you'd expect from Ukrainians speaking Russian".
Another expert confirmed that they seem to have eastern Ukrainian accents, pointing to the use of "hovorit" ("speak") rather than the Russian "govorit".
...
In the most disturbing part of the video, three men appear to be shot in the legs at close range with an assault weapon.
There's been some debate on social media as to whether the footage is genuine or staged, with some people claiming there isn't enough blood, evidence of exit wounds or shouting and screaming from the victims for it to be real.
We showed the video to several trauma surgeons and former military doctors who gave us their expert opinion but wished to remain anonymous.
One said he had treated soldiers who had sustained gunshot injuries who didn't shout or scream and said the lack of bleeding on some of the wounded soldiers could be explained by them having had a tourniquet applied (visible in the video).
He said: "It is my opinion that the footage cannot be categorised as 'fake' purely based on the images seen. This requires an investigation for war crimes."
Another doctor said: "It appears genuine... these meet the description of punishment shootings to the limbs"...
