Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman has urged international organisations to respond to an allegation that several Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed in Russia’s Kursk region.
DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site close to Ukraine’s Defence Ministry, said that Russian troops killed nine Ukrainian “drone operators and contractors” on October 10 after they had surrendered.
Dmytro Lubinets said on Sunday that the international community “must not turn a blind eye” to the alleged executions.
The ombudsman wrote on Telegram that he had sent letters to the United Nations and the International Red Cross about the incident, referring to it as “another crime committed by the Russians”.
Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin also said his office had opened a criminal investigation into the alleged execution and said killing prisoners of war was a “gross violation” of the Geneva Convention.
“We are doing our utmost to identify and prosecute all those responsible for the aggressor’s crimes committed against Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Kostin wrote on X.
There was no immediate comment from Russian officials on the allegations.
The claim comes as Russian and Ukrainian troops trade attacks in the Kursk region after Ukrainian forces burst across the border in a surprise attack on August 6.
In early September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces controlled more than 1,300sq km (500sq miles) of Kursk.
However, last week, Russia said its forces had taken back several villages from Ukrainian forces.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces had attacked Ukrainian troops in western Kursk with glide bombs.
The ministry said the attack was directed against a “strongpoint and concentration of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel”.
Separately, the Ukrainian Air Force said its air defences shot down 31 of 68 drones launched by Russia overnight in the regions of Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy and Cherkasy.
Over the past week, Zelenskyy said Russia launched about 900 guided aerial bombs, more than 40 missiles and 400 drones against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy pleaded with Ukraine’s allies for more air defences to shoot down the high influx of Russian weapons.
