Ukraine has called on the international community, including the OSCE leadership, to properly react to Russia’s executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Viktoriia Kuvshynnykova, Ukraine’s Acting Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, stated this at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
“There is already sufficient evidence that the practice of execution of Ukrainian POWs is a pre-planned and systematic policy of Russia. According to Ukraine’s Ombudsperson, it was verified that at least 177 Ukrainian POWs were executed by Russia since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 109 out of these cases occurred in 2024 alone, indicating that the trend with Russia’s violations of international norms and rules of warfare remains critical and deteriorates further,” she noted.
Kuvshynnykova pointed out that on January 23, 2025, another six Ukrainian POWs were executed by the Russian Federation in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. This crime was filmed and spread on the Internet.
“The intensified campaign of executions and the publication of videos of these heinous killings should be seen as a part of the dehumanisation aimed at stirring up hatred within the Russian society against Ukraine and the people of my country. We believe that demonstrational character of such videos is used by Russia to boast of its impunity. This endangers the entire system of protection of POWs under the international law,” the Ukrainian diplomat stressed.
She also underlined that it is the Russian Federation, which bears full responsibility for the lives and health of the Ukrainian prisoners of war, as envisaged by the international law.
“We urge the international community, including both political and executive leadership of OSCE, to properly react to these Russian crimes,” Kuvshynnykova stated.
As Ukrinform reported, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said that in almost three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, cases of execution of 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops have been confirmed, including 109 cases in 2024.
Source: Ukraine urges OSCE to react to Russia's executions of POWs
