A video showing Russian soldiers executing six unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war is “appalling”, says Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church primate Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Source: Crux.
The video, which has circulated widely on social media since January 23, shows Russian soldiers taking turns shooting unarmed Ukrainian POWs in their backs.
At the end of the video, one of the Russian soldiers says: “One is mine,” and a seventh soldier is shown on the ground. However, it is not known if anything happened to him.
“According to preliminary data, during an assault on the positions of Ukrainian troops in Donetsk region, the occupiers captured six servicemen of the Ukrainian Defence Forces and subsequently shot them dead,” the Prosecutor General of Ukraine’s office said in a January 23 statement.
“The execution of prisoners of war is a serious violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and is classified as a grave international crime. Investigative actions are currently underway to establish all the circumstances of the crime and the persons involved in its commission.”
Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has been making slow advances in Ukraine, but is suffering huge casualties, as are the Ukrainians.
In a video message, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said Russia is determined to achieve its political aims by military means at any cost, and is sacrificing thousands of their soldiers daily in “savage” assaults.
“It is a carnage,” the Major Archbishop said.
“However, we were most appalled last week by the footage of the brutal execution of six of our prisoners of war and the fact that the Russian who executed them wore a sticker with an icon of the Uncreated Saviour on his chest. It is a truly ghastly scene … Christian conscience cannot tolerate this.
“A sacrilegious war cannot be justified. Defenceless victims must not be slaughtered in the name of God. Pope Francis has unequivocally defined the current situation.
“This is no longer a war, as it does not respect military customs and rules and international humanitarian law – it is thuggery.”
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Major Archbishop Shevchuk says ‘sacrilegious war’ by Russia cannot be justified (By Charles Collins, Crux)
