Soldiers thrown from a van and shot in the legs… The NGO Human Rights Watch has called on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate potential “war crimes” against Russian prisoners.

Their request comes in response to the broadcast of a video, on March 27, on which we can see three men in fatigues, their hands tied behind their backs, thrown to the ground from a van by other armed men, who shoot at them in the legs.

Village near Kharkiv

While the authenticity of the footage could not be independently established, AFP geotagged the video as being shot in Mala Rogan.

This village is in the Kharkiv region (north-east), taken over earlier this week by Ukrainian forces after an offensive.

AFP journalists who were able to get to Mala Rogan on March 28 saw the bodies of two Russian soldiers, a bag over their heads, lying in one of the alleys of the village, largely destroyed by fighting, while at least two other bodies were thrown into a well.

Russian troops in retreat

“If confirmed, beating and shooting captured combatants in the legs would constitute a war crime,” HRW said in a statement released Thursday evening.

“Ukraine must demonstrate that it is able and willing to prevent and punish serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the international organization added.

The operation carried out in Mala Rogan made it possible to push back the Russian troops by several kilometers and to clear the entire south-eastern flank of Kharkiv, in particular a highway under Russian fire where several Ukrainian civilians were killed.

"Cleaning operations"

In total, AFP counted the bodies of more than a dozen Russian soldiers in Mala Rogan, where many corpses are scattered in the fields, in and around their positions, as well as randomly in the houses of the village, according to the Ukrainian army.

An unknown number were taken prisoner, including a young signals officer.

Russian troops shelled Kharkiv from Mala Rogan, recaptured by Ukrainian forces in a pincer attack that took the Russians by surprise.

Many of these soldiers found themselves trapped in houses, resisting in basements during cleaning operations that lasted nearly three days.

Investigation of alleged abuse

According to a Ukrainian military source, a unit of local volunteers took part in the first day of the operation, causing criticism among conventional units.

An adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksiï Arestovitch, had acknowledged on Telegram that prisoner abuse constitutes a “war crime” and that such acts must be “punished”.

"We will treat prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Convention, regardless of your personal emotional motivations," he said, addressing the military.

Alexander Bastrykin, the director of the Russian Investigative Committee, the body responsible for the main criminal investigations in the country, ordered an investigation to be launched into the alleged abuses.

Russian soldiers have also been accused of abuses since the start of the invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24.

In Mala Rogan, residents accused them of having raped women held prisoner for several days on the floor of a school.

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