“According to Dmytro Lubinets, the Russian side is trying to demonstrate the inefficiency of the current system of international humanitarian law”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“The Russians do it deliberately. There are several arguments, probably, why: first of all, it is to “bind” the blood of Russian soldiers so that they do not surrender, so that they understand that they are war criminals… If they execute Ukrainian prisoners of war, then if they surrender, they are told that they will be treated exactly the same,” Dmytro Lubinets believes.
Also, according to the Ombudsman, the Russian side is trying to demonstrate the inefficiency of the current system of international humanitarian law.
“They wanted to sneeze at international humanitarian law, at the Geneva Conventions… The Russians have now adopted the tactic of destroying the current international system of international humanitarian law, showing that it does not exist. It must be changed, and during these changes it is certain that they will promote their own interests. For example, increasing the number of countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council from among those countries that support the Russian Federation. And this is very dangerous for all of us,” says Lubinets.
The ombudsman explained that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN informs about the killings of Ukrainian prisoners of war, “so that the issue of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war is considered at the highest level at the UN General Assembly, again with legal consequences for the Russian Federation.”
“Perhaps we should introduce separate sanctions lists against the Russians who do this. I really want that someday in the future international partners will understand that only drastic economic sanctions can stop Russian aggression… This is the only thing that can lead to stopping this aggression. Everything else, unfortunately, as you can see, does not work and is getting worse every day,” Lubinets summarized.
Reports of murders, torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war are regularly reported. In general, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have information about the murder of at least 93 Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian soldiers, reported on October 4, the representative of the OGP, Yuriy Belousov.
According to him, 80% of cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war were recorded in 2024, but the trend began to appear in November 2023, when “changes took place in the attitude of Russian servicemen towards our prisoners of war for the worse.”
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says it has observed an increase in the number of executions by the Russian military of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and points out that Russian commanders are likely “tolerating, encouraging or directly ordering” the executions.