Russian troops execute Ukrainian POW after interrogation in Donetsk Oblast

Investigators said one Russian soldier ordered the prisoner’s execution after the interrogation and another carried it out, shooting him with a firearm.

The Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office opened a pretrial investigation into a war crime resulting in death under Part 2 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code.

Investigators are conducting initial inquiries and searches to establish all the circumstances of the crime and identify those involved.

The prosecutor’s office stressed that killing prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and a serious international crime.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Russian forces have executed 129 Ukrainian prisoners of war and other people who were no longer taking part in hostilities, a report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine published on June 29 found.

The findings were based on 1,926 interviews with witnesses and victims, 180 site visits, 48 visits to detention facilities, 78 visits to hospitals, transit centers and shelters for internally displaced people, 33 court hearings and reviews of official documents and other materials.

Separately, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said in March that Russian forces had executed 337 Ukrainian prisoners of war by the end of 2025.