Ukraine condemns the reported execution of troops in Kursk

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman has denounced the alleged execution of nine captured Ukrainian soldiers by Russian forces in the Kursk border region.

Dmytro Lubinets said he had written to the United Nations and the Red Cross about the allegations, accusing Moscow of violating “all the rules and customs of war.”

The intervention follows a report by Ukrainian battlefield analysis site DeepState, which published drone footage purporting to show that the dead troops were drone operators. Officials in Russia have not yet commented on the allegations.

Kiev is believed to have deployed thousands of troops to the Russian border region since it launched its shock attack earlier this summer.

The images released by DeepState showed the dead Ukrainian soldiers stripped to their underwear and lying face down on what appeared to be farmland in Kursk. The BBC cannot independently verify the images.

The outlet said the drone operators were overwhelmed by a rapid Russian advance.

“These actions cannot go unpunished and the enemy must bear full responsibility,” Mr. Lubinets wrote in a message to Telegram. “The international community should not turn a blind eye to such crimes!”

Kiev has frequently accused Russia of executing captured Ukrainian troops – a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Earlier this month, the Prosecutor General’s Office claimed that Russian forces had executed 93 Ukrainian soldiers since the conflict began.

It added that an official investigation had been launched into reports that 16 Ukrainian soldiers were executed in the eastern Donetsk region, near the city of Pokrovsk – where fighting has been raging for months. Officials said the reports would represent the “largest mass execution” of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops since the invasion of Moscow began in February 2022.

The Kremlin denies that its soldiers have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

The reports come as Russian forces continue to attack Ukrainian positions in Kursk. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his late-night address in Kiev on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had repelled a renewed Russian advance in the region.

Analysts said Kiev launched the offensive to force Russia to divert some of its troops from its offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Institute for War Research (ISW) estimates that around 40,000 Russian forces are currently active in Kursk – up from 11,000 when Ukrainian troops first crossed the border.

But the offensive failed to slow Russian momentum in the eastern Donbass region, where relentless attacks have slowly pushed back Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian leader acknowledged in his address on Saturday that “there are very difficult conditions with harsh enemy actions” in both Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

On Sunday morning, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had captured the village of Mykhailivka, located on a highway near the key city of Pokrovsk.

For months, Russian forces have been advancing towards Pokrovsk, an important logistics hub. Experts say that if Russia were to capture the city, it would become significantly more difficult for Ukraine to resupply units in other key cities.

Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes on Ukraine continued overnight. Air force officials in Kiev said Moscow fired 68 drones and four missiles into Ukrainian territory.