The United States says it has reliable information that Russian soldiers executed their Ukrainian opponents when they tried to surrender.
Beth Van Schaack, the US special envoy for international criminal law, said this on Wednesday at a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss Russian war crimes and how the country can be held accountable for them.
“Russia has failed to subdue Ukraine in two months, but we see that the Kremlin is still brutally raging in Ukraine, and Russian forces are committing war crimes. This is apparent from public sources and information from our own intelligence services,” says Van Schaack.
According to Van Schaack, a Russian military unit near Donetsk shot Ukrainian soldiers in cold blood when they tried to surrender. “That is a violation of the laws of war,” said the United States envoy. “Citizens should not be executed, nor should soldiers who are out of action – by wounding or by surrender – be shot.
The people who initiated this ordered it, and carried it out must be held accountable. These are not isolated incidents; this is a pattern,” said Van Schaack. An international investigation team is being set up to investigate such crimes and prosecute the perpetrators.