Shooting near the wells. How to order the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and Putin for the murder of Ukrainian prisoners
There, an investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder - part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Krynka is a small settlement on the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region. It is located slightly higher than Kherson. Since the fall, the Russian army has been trying to take cribs and surrounding territories under control, but it fails - Ukrainian military, mainly marines, small groups are present there all the time.
The situation there remains extremely difficult. "If you analyze numerous messages on social networks about what is happening on the left bank of Kherson region, along the Dnieper, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have expanded in the area The destroyed arrivals from the drones in Nova Kakhovka and Kakhovka There are numerous drones that are written and spoken there.
Open areas and in the forest, behind the wells, but ours continue to control the gray zone near the Dnieper, " - says Focus, local resident Kakhovka Anastasia. She left for a long time, but constantly monitor the situation there. Anastasia regularly reads local publications. "On the pages where the locals were selling vegetables and milk, you can now see the reports that the military disappear in the area There are no locals.
Political scientist and Kherson activist Volodymyr Molchanov also monitors the situation in Kherson region. "In the area of cries there is what Russians call storm groups. But this is not quite assault and not groups. The Dnieper is trying to approach the unification of 60-80 people, Russian shooters, for an unknown purpose," he says. " that they exist there. To help, to hide somewhere in the basement - they were all flooded.
A similar case of murder of the Ukrainian military immediately after being captured is far from the first. Only in 2024 did information about several shootings of unarmed and wounded Ukrainian soldiers in different parts of the front appear. That is, it is about the systemic practice of the Russian Federation. Thus, on February 15, the Russian military shot wounded Ukrainian defenders to Zenit's position near Avdiivka.
They did so after the warriors contacted the coordination headquarters to exchange captured prisoners with the Russian side, arranging that the Russian army would be captured and provided medical care. After the departure of the Ukrainian forces from Avdiivka, six Ukrainian defenders simply were waiting for a bunker in the military unit. The Russians killed the wounded and posted a video with bodies on the Internet. On February 24, another case happened.
The video of the drone is shown as several people, probably Ukrainian soldiers, are captured, then killed. It is about events on the front of the front between the villages of Ivanovo and Chrome in the Bakhmut district of Donetsk region. One of the first records was spread by the Ukrainian OSINT Project DeepState. His analysts noted that on the video-the fighters of the 92nd separate assault brigade of the Armed Forces.
At the same time, the UN Human Rights Mission reported that from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024, the Russians executed at least 32 captured Ukrainian defenders in 12 separate cases. Their report states that there are much more cases than in any of the previous periods. Evocation. info journalists claim that they managed to establish a commander of the Russian unit who ordered the shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war near the wells.
It is the representatives of the 328 Regiment 104 Division and the Commander - the Hero of Russia Colonel Sergei Istuganov, who ordered the order. Ishtuganov has been involved in the war against Ukraine since the beginning of a full -scale invasion. He fought in the 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, was a deputy commander. It was this unit that tried to seize Gostomel near Kiev airfield. Then it was transferred to the Donetsk direction, later to Kherson.
In particular, its responsibility area includes the left bank of the Dnieper. As in the case of the wells, the journalists have previously established those responsible for the shooting of six soldiers in Zenit positions. They were representatives of the 1st Slavic Brigade of the Pseudo -republic. It is their logo that is on a video that was spread by Russian propagandists. This unit was formed in the fall of 2014 in occupied torez of Donetsk region.
It included fighters who at one time subordinated the Russian citizen Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who captured Sloviansk in 2014. Currently, this unit is part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. A battalion commander who could kill prisoners is called a person with Hermes call sign. This pseudo, according to journalists, is used by 44-year-old Dmitry Verbiy, a native of Shakhtarsk.
He was the deputy head of the Security Service in the Ministry of the Ministry to the full -scale invasion of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine. Experts say that the purpose of such killings and dissemination of information about them is to intimidate Ukrainian fighters so that they do not go to fight. "The fact that the enemy tries to press and publishes such videos in this way, tying them specifically to the bridgehead of the wells, says that he has success there as before.
He continues the assault, finding new tactics, but they find themselves out However, Natalia Humeniuk, the head of the Press Center of Defense forces of the South, said, in particular. "There was no reaction from the Russian command after publishing the video. Therefore, it is obvious that it at least tolerates the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and should be responsible for this crime," says Vladimir Molchanov.
"If it was its own initiative of some Russian soldie The command is definitely tolerated. International lawyers say that it is important to record every similar case of murder of a prisoner of war at the national level in order to further prosecute criminals for responsibility-both military and civilian chiefs. "When we talk about responsibility, we mean only the commander who gave an instruction to shoot.
We are talking about him and his top leadership-up to the Minister of Defense and the Supreme Commander," says Focus lawyer-international, lawyer Andriy Yakovlev. Such cases have not taken measures, especially if we prove systematicity, it means that it has either approval or indication from above. This approach can not give an instant result, but long -term.
"If Ukraine pays attention to the highest leadership, which it is impossible to bring to the national level at the national level - Putin is hardly judged in the Ukrainian court, in addition he has immunity, then we can subsequently turn to international instances, including the International Criminal Court (ISS) , ”Yakovlev continues. At least the announcement of the high leadership of the Russian Federation.
That is, when we talk about punishment for war crimes, according to an international lawyer, we have to build a logical chain as follows: national investigations record similar facts, demonstrate that they are systemic, then the command responsibility or responsibility of commanders is used, pointing to them. Where Ukraine cannot rise higher - asks to join the ISS. Of course, someone will say that the ISS is a long -term process that international bodies are toothless.
But if Ukraine does not record the crimes properly now, then it is unlikely to be done. The lawyer explains that any military who came under the enemy during hostilities is considered captured. Even without official recognition and confirmation. As soon as the serviceman showed that he does not resist, he is considered captivity. Then the enemy is responsible for him, he must keep his life.
In the cases that occurred in the Bakhmut direction, the Russian military did not do so near Avdiivka or in Krynki. Therefore, it is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions - a premeditated murder or murder of a combatant who, by composing weapons or no means of protection, survived unconditionally. And this is a military crime committed not only by the executor and the commander. Yakovlev explains that the idea of Vladimir Molchanov about team responsibility is important.