WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The New York Times on Wednesday reported that it had verified an online video that shows a group of Ukrainian soldiers killing captured Russian troops in the vicinity of Bucha near the capital of Kiev.
The video was posted on Monday and depicts a killing of a wounded Russian soldier who was still breathing before he was shot three times. There are at least three more killed Russian soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs and white bands on their arms surrounded by blood stains.
“He’s still alive. Film these marauders. Look, he’s still alive. He’s gasping,” the video depicts a Ukrainian soldier as saying.
The killings took place near the village of Dmytrivka, seven miles southwest of Bucha, following a Ukrainian ambush of a withdrawing Russian column on March 30, the report said.
The Ukrainian soldiers were identified by their national flag patches and blue arm bands and by repeating the phrase “glory to Ukraine” multiple times. A Ukrainian news agency noted that the ambush was conducted by the “Georgian Legion” - a unit of Georgian volunteers that was formed back in 2014.
A member of the Legion appears to look like former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s security guard, the article's author Evan Hill said via Twitter.
Officers of the Georgian National Legion volunteer battalion pose for a photo prior to their departure to the area of the war conflict in Ukraine's east, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The Georgian National Legion consists mostly of Georgians, but there are also the US, French and Belgian citizens. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.04.2022
Situation in Ukraine
'Not a Single Russian Soldier Will be Taken Prisoner', Says Head of Georgian Legion in Ukraine
Yesterday, 14:24 GMT Over the weekend, reports emerged of mass civilian killings in Bucha, a town near Kiev controlled until recently by Russian forces. Kiev blamed the civilian deaths on the departed Russian forces. However, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia called the presented evidence a forgery and contended that radical Ukrainian forces have been committing abuses against civilians as well as prisoners of war.
On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk requested help to defend the, from attacks by Ukrainian troops. Russia said that the aim of its special operation is to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine and that only the country's military infrastructure is being targeted. In response, Western countries have imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia.