Russia formed a battalion from Ukrainian war prisoners and sent them to the frontline. This is an outrageous violation of the Geneva Convention relative to prisoners of war.
Russia makes Ukrainian war prisoners fight against their Motherland
On 28 December, the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Battalion, formed from Ukrainian prisoners of war, took part in hostilities, Russian media reported. The unit is reportedly located near the village of Urozhayne in western Donetsk region and is subordinated to the Kaskad military formation of the so-called 'Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)'.
A day earlier, Russian media reported that the battalion consists of 70 Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been taken from Russian penal colonies and sent for training. In early November, the battalion was deployed to the frontline in western Donetsk region.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) experts say that the use of Ukrainian prisoners of war is a violation of the Geneva Convention relative to prisoners of war.
The document prohibits the use of prisoners of war in hostilities by the state that captured them, and also states that "no prisoner of war may at any time be sent or detained in places where he may be exposed to fire in a combat zone".
In addition, a prisoner of war should not be "engaged in work that is harmful or dangerous to health".
Shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war
Recently, during a battle with Ukrainian soldiers near the village of Robotyno in the Zaporizhzhia region, the occupiers captured three Ukrainian defenders and shot them on the spot.
The Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal 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).
Servicemen of the 82nd separate airborne assault brigade of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were shot dead.
Investigators have established that the occupiers from the 76th Guards Air Assault Division of Russia, known as the Pskov Airborne Division, may have been involved in the shooting.
