A gruesome video has been circulating since last night on social networks that apparently shows a Russian soldier beheading a Ukrainian soldier with a knife. There are currently no independent confirmations of the authenticity of the video, which Rainews.it viewed and from which the frame on this page is taken, the details of which have been obscured by the editorial staff. One can unequivocally distinguish a man in uniform cutting off the head of another reclining man: the latter wears the yellow armband that distinguishes the Kiev fighters. A second video appears to show the decapitated corpses of two Ukrainian servicemen lying next to a wrecked vehicle. A voice says, "They killed them. Someone came and cut off his head."
The Kremlin, for now, has neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of the video: "These are obviously horrible images," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "In the fake news world we live in, we need to investigate the authenticity of these videos." The founder of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, denies any involvement: "I saw this video," he commented on Telegram, "it's bad when people's heads are cut off, but I didn't see anywhere that this is happening near Bakhmut and that members of Wagner were involved in the execution."
The UN human rights mission in Ukraine said it was "horrified" by the videos and demanded that "these incidents be properly investigated and those responsible held accountable."
"We have no further information about the video. but if confirmed this is a new brutal reminder of the inhumanity of Russian aggression," European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said during a press point. "The video demonstrates once again Russia's complete disregard for international law," Massrali added, "it would be a grave violation of the Geneva Convention, according to which the dignified treatment of prisoners of war must be guaranteed. The European Union will hold to account all perpetrators and accomplices of war crimes."
"There is something that no one in the world can ignore: how easily these beasts kill," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video message. This video shows Russia for what it is. This is not an accident. This is not an episode. It's happened thousands of times. Everyone has to react. The defeat of terror is necessary."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba wrote on Twitter: "A horrific video of Russian troops beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war is circulating online. It is absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, presides over the United Nations Security Council (Moscow took over the rotating presidency this month, ed). Russian terrorists must be expelled from Ukraine and the United Nations and held accountable for their crimes." Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria had released many videos of beheading prisoners when they controlled areas of those countries from 2014 to 2017. The minister also called on the International Criminal Court to "immediately investigate another atrocity by the Russian army." The Kiev security services have opened an investigation.