Kiev [Ukraine], October 14: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has appealed to the international community for assistance following reports of the alleged shootings of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian soldiers.
The International Criminal Court must issue arrest warrants for the "Russian executioners and torturers," the top diplomat wrote on X on Sunday.
Sybiha also called for international observers and doctors to be granted access to the prisoner camps, noting that the UN believes 95% of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia face torture.
His comments came after reports of the execution of nine Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered during fighting in the western Russian region of Kursk after expending all their ammunition.
According to Ukrainian media reports at the weekend, they were executed on the spot.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets on Sunday urged the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take action. "Russia is a terrorist state that violates all rules of war. The international community must not turn a blind eye to such crimes," he wrote on social media.
Recently, a Russian soldier was captured who is alleged to have shot several Ukrainian soldiers with his comrades in early September after they had laid down their arms. The act had been filmed by a reconnaissance drone. The prosecutor's office in Kiev said it is aware of over 90 cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Analysts say that Kyiv launched the offensive to try and force Russia to redirect some of its troops from its offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has estimated that around 40,000 Russian forces are now active in Kursk - up from 11,000 when Ukrainian troops first crossed the border.
But the offensive has failed to slow Russian momentum in the eastern Donbas region, where relentless attacks has slowly pushed Ukrainian forces backwards. The Ukrainian leader acknowledged that "there are very difficult conditions, with harsh enemy actions" in both Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia in his address on Saturday.
On Sunday morning, the Russian defence ministry said its forces had seized the village of Mykhailivka, which sits along a highway near the key city of Pokrovsk.
Russian forces have been advancing towards Pokrovsk - which is a key logistics hub - for months. Experts say if Russia can seize the city Ukraine's ability to resupply units in other crucial towns would become far more difficult.
Meanwhile, Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine continued overnight. Air force officials in Kyiv said Moscow launched 68 drones and four missiles towards Ukrainian territory.
Source: Qatar Tribune