Russia executed three Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) near Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast, according to a statement from Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office on Sept. 3.
The office has initiated an investigation into the incident as part of a broader effort to document and prosecute war crimes.
A video that circulated on Telegram reportedly shows the three Ukrainian soldiers emerging from a basement with their hands raised in surrender. Russian soldiers are then seen capturing them, forcing them face-down on the ground, and executing them on the spot.
This is not an isolated incident.
As of March 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office had documented pretrial information on over 128,000 victims of war crimes, including the execution of at least 54 Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces. The number of war crime cases has likely increased since then.
In another similar case, a video from May showed four Ukrainian soldiers executed after surrendering.
Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin stated in June that Russian commanders had given orders "not to capture Ukrainian servicemen, but instead to kill them with inhuman cruelty."
According to the Kyiv Independent, Kostin made the statement after footage surfaced showing a Ukrainian soldier beheaded by Russian troops.
"This is terrible barbarism that has no place in the 21st century," Kostin said at the time.
