Video footage shared online on Sunday showed soldiers who seem to be Ukrainians torturing prisoners of war from Russia. The video, which hasn’t been verified, shows five prisoners tied up and lying on the ground, some of them held at gunpoint. Later, in the video, three captives are seen to be shot on their legs and they fall to the ground. One of them is then hit on the face with the butt of a rifle.

Whether the footage is authentic is not sure. Neither it’s known where the videos were shot. However, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, a Ukrainian military commander, promptly accused Russia of concocting the videos claiming that “the enemy” produced and shared the video showing inhuman torture of “alleged Russian prisoners” by purported “Ukrainian soldiers” to malign the Ukrainian defence forces.

According to the New York Times, the location of the video, first posted by Twitter user, was filmed near the city of Kharkhiv, a key battlefront, now held by Ukrainian forces. The city, indiscriminately bombarded by Russians, was claimed to have been captured by the invaders. But later Ukrainians say they’ve recaptured their city.

Later, after the video footage was widely circulated, the Ukraine government promised to take action if the charges of mistreatment of Russian prisoners of war are proven true. Oleksiy Arestovych, the deputy head of Ukraine’s armed forces, said in a briefing in Turkey on Tuesday that all prisoners will be treated in “accordance with the Geneva Convention”, whatever personal emotional motives are there among Ukrainians. Although he didn’t mention this particular footage he promised appropriate legal actions against those military personnel, if found guilty.

So long Ukrainians have accused Russians of inhuman shelling and carrying out actions that go against the Geneva Convention, including their President Volodymyr Zelensky’s accusation of kidnapping thousands of children by Russian soldiers in the city of Mariupol. But if the Ukrainians are found torturing invaders in a similar way, they too will be held resposnible for gross human rights violation.

READ MORE:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russian-soldiers-torture-video-b2046315.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/ukraine-government-investigates-video-alleged-torture-russian-prisoners-of-war

https://nypost.com/2022/03/28/ukraine-to-probe-after-videos-show-alleged-russian-pows-shot/