Ukraine on Wednesday compared Russia to the Islamic State and called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate after a video emerged online showing what appeared to be Russian servicemen beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war with a knife.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the authenticity or provenance of a video on social media showing what is believed to be Russian servicemen beheading a man dressed in Ukrainian insignia.
“There is something that no one in the world can ignore: the ease with which these animals kill,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message. – You will have to answer for everything according to the law. Terror must be defeated.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: “A chilling video is circulating online showing Russian military beheading a Ukrainian POW.
It is absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, chairs the UN Security Council.
Recall that this month Russia began to take turns chairing the UN Security Council.
“Russian terrorists must be expelled from Ukraine and the UN and held accountable for their crimes,” Kuleba said.
Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria released videos of beheadings of prisoners as they controlled large parts of those countries in 2014-2017.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the ICC to “immediately investigate another atrocity by the Russian military”.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar called for an end to the video’s dissemination on the Internet.
“Remember that the enemy wants to intimidate us. He wants to make us weaker,” she said.
Ukraine’s Internal Security Agency announced that it had opened an investigation into suspected war crimes in connection with the video.
In Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine described the videos posted on social media as “particularly chilling”.
In addition to the alleged execution, another video shows the mutilated bodies of Ukrainian POWs, the report said.
“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case”, underlines the document. “Recent incidents must also be properly investigated and those responsible held accountable.”
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