Shocking video that saw the light of day, appears to depict Ukrainians soldiers shoot Russian prisoners on the knees during an operation in Kharkov.
In the video, which lasts almost six minutes, Ukrainians are heard saying that they have captured a Russian reconnaissance group operating in Olhovka, a district of Kharkiv about 20 miles from the Russian border.
What is the response of the Ukrainian government
Asked about the video, Ukrainian government adviser Oleksay Arestovich said: "The government is taking the incident very seriously and an investigation will be launched immediately. We are a European army and we do not humiliate our prisoners. "If it turns out to be true, it is a completely unacceptable behavior."
In other news, Arestovic said: "We are treating our prisoners under the Geneva Convention, regardless of our personal feelings."
For his part, the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valery Zaluzny, said in a written statement to CNN: "In order to make the Ukrainian defense forces unreliable, the enemy directs and distributes videos showing" Russian prisoners ".
"I want to emphasize that the personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as other legal military formations, fully comply with the terms of international humanitarian law," Zaluzny added. "I urge you to take into account the realities of the information and psychological warfare and to trust only the official sources."
The role of the Order of Azov
It is not clear which Ukrainian unit could be involved in the case. The soldiers are heard speaking both Ukrainian and Russian, with a Ukrainian accent.
The video comes as Ukrainian forces recapture territory east and south of Kharkov. According to a CNN poll, on Saturday the infamous Azov Order launched a successful offensive in which it captured some Russian soldiers in Olhovka, also known as Vilhivka.
Some of the prisoners were forced to strip naked while blindfolded.
The video was posted by Konstantin Nemichev, a Kharkiv region official who was involved in the attack. He told CNN he had nothing to do with the footage, in which Ukrainian soldiers appear to be shooting Russian prisoners on the knees.
"It's not our site; I have not seen such a site," he told CNN on Sunday.
He claimed that the video "may have been shot in some part of Kharkiv".
Russia blames the nationalists
The first reaction of the Russian authorities came through the head of the research committee of the Russian Federation, A.I. Bastrykin, who said that an investigation would be carried out to "determine the circumstances of the mistreatment of captured soldiers by Ukrainian nationalists".
In a statement, Bastrykin said: "Material has appeared on the internet in which prisoners are being treated with incredible brutality by Ukrainian nationalists. The video circulating on the internet shows captive soldiers receiving bullets in both knees and not being offered medical treatment. "According to some testimonies, these acts took place in one of the bases of Ukrainian nationalists in the Kharkiv region."
Here are some hard images:
https://twitter.com/Acmor3/status/1508353776268324865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1508353776268324865%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in.gr%2F2022%2F03%2F28%2Fworld%2Fpolemos-stin-oukrania-sokaristiko-vinteo-feretai-na-deixnei-vasanismo-roson-aixmaloton-apo-oukranous-ethnikistes%2F
in.gr With information from cnn