On the evening of April 11, a shocking video appeared on russian pro-war Telegram channels showing a man in a uniform similar to a Ukrainian one being beheaded with a knife. The sadist’s face is covered by a mask, but the execution is accompanied by mocking comments from the killer’s guide, probably a russian military man, which shows that this is not the first time the criminals have done this. There is a lot of greenery in the footage in the video, so we can assume that it was filmed last year – in the summer or early autumn.
❗️According to preliminary data, one of the first videos was published on his closed Telegram channel by the leader of the russian extremist organization “men’s state” v.pozdnyakov
The reaction of the Ukrainian and russian official parties turned out to be polar.
Already on the evening of April 11, the head of the President’s Office, A. Yermak, reacted to the video of the brutal murder, saying that “there will be an answer and responsibility” for this. The next day, the President of Ukraine V. Zelenskyy, commenting on the video, noted that “the killers will be found” and called on world leaders to react. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine D. Kuleba called to exclude russia from the UN. The Security Service of Ukraine announced the beginning of an investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war. Currently, all competent Ukrainian authorities are carefully studying the record to identify war criminals and the Ukrainian military.
The head of EU diplomacy J. Borrell reacted to the video with a statement that russia violated the Geneva Conventions.
The russian authorities, as well as the largest russian pro-war Telegram channels (“voenkory ruskoi vesny”, “Readovka”, the channels of the war correspondents o.kots and yu.kotyenok) ignored the video of the murder. Only in the afternoon of April 12, the kremlin spokesman d.peskov told the media that “the authenticity of the video still needs to be checked.” However, certain pro-russian resources “disperse” unsubstantiated information about alleged involvement in the “dumping” of videos by Ukrainian special services.
The appearance of shocking footage in public access is not an accident, but a systematic practice that demonstrates the criminal essence of russia.
Indeed, the practice of public executions has been used by russia since 2014 and is now gaining momentum. In July of last year, a video appeared on the Internet showing the brutal torture of a Ukrainian prisoner of war, whose genitals are cut off and then killed. On March 6, the world was shocked by footage showing russian soldiers shooting an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner after saying “Glory to Ukraine”. In Bakhmut, the russian occupiers cut off the head of a Ukrainian prisoner and displayed it on a metal pin for entertainment. In addition, it is known about many cases when the russian military, mostly “kadyrovs”, practiced cutting off the heads not only of Ukrainian military prisoners, but also of civilians. In 2014, a similar situation occurred in the village of Novosvitlivka, Luhansk region, where “kadyrovs” raped and brutally killed several female medical workers.
What is behind the practice of publishing footage of Ukrainian military executions?
Firstly, public atrocities are an attempt to demoralize and sow panic in the Ukrainian Defense Forces and society, as well as to frighten those foreign citizens who want to come and help Ukraine. The tactics of intimidating the enemy by demonstrating torture and brutal murders have been practiced by the russian military even during military conflicts in other countries. Thus, the mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMC filmed and posted numerous videos on social networks where they cut off the heads and limbs of Syrians. Last year, a video appeared on the Internet showing the execution with a sledgehammer of a former prisoner and member of the PMC “Wagner” ye.nuzhyn, who surrendered as a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
In many ways, the demonstration of atrocities in Ukraine is aimed at the russian people, as one of the primitive ways to reduce the degree of social tension due to the alleged revenge for the death of russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Secondly, the demonstration of such public atrocities is aimed at encouraging the russian mobilized to fight to the end. The main message is not to think of surrendering, because in Ukrainian captivity they will do to you what we do to Ukrainian prisoners of war. No wonder the russian neo-Nazi o.milchakov hinted in the telegram channel of the gang formation “DSHRG rusych” that similar videos will gradually “surface” in the future.
Moreover, according to data obtained by the Ukrainian special services, russian commanders of the units of the russian federation and informal russian gang formations deliberately give orders to their subordinates to cut off the heads or torture Ukrainian prisoners of war, and they themselves record everything on the phone. This is done so that subordinates understand that there is no way back for them. After such a “baptism in blood”, the probability that the militant will escape and surrender is significantly reduced.
❗️The demonstration of the killing of prisoners of war will only unite the Ukrainian people and the army more strongly in the fight against the russian aggressor. A gross violation of the Geneva Convention and other relevant international norms will be additional evidence in the case of bringing to justice the organizers and perpetrators of crimes on the territory of Ukraine.
