As part of investigations into 116 criminal cases since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, prosecutors have documented the killings of 306 Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to Yurii Rud, head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict at the Office of the Prosecutor General.
“So far, we have documented the killings of 306 Ukrainian servicemen. These cases are being investigated within 116 criminal proceedings,” Rud told journalists on the sidelines of the international conference “United for Justice. Accountability for Crimes Against Civilians,” responding to a question about the number of Ukrainian POWs executed by Russian forces.
Rud explained that this concerns Ukrainian soldiers who were killed on the battlefield while no longer offering active resistance due to injuries, after surrendering their weapons, and therefore were protected under the Geneva Conventions.
He clarified that these figures do not include the mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian forces in Olenivka, Donetsk region, in 2022.
