July 30 (UPI) — The
United Nations has accused Russia of potential war crimes after a shocking
video emerged purporting to show a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian
prisoner.
“The [U.N.] is shocked by
recent videos that clearly show the beating, castration and killing of a
captured serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by a man believed to be a
member of Russia’s Armed Forces or affiliated armed groups,” the U.N.
Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a statement.
“One of the videos shows
how a tortured serviceman is shot in the head, and his body is dragged into a
ditch. If confirmed, these actions will be classified as war crimes.”
The Monitoring Mission added
that the video is “just the latest in a series of videos documenting the
torture and extrajudicial executions of prisoners of war and non-combatants by
warring parties.”
The video circulated online
after first appearing on a pro-Russian channel on Telegram and have been
reviewed the Washington Post and The Guardian as well
as CNN, though the news reports each noted that they were not able to
verify the authenticity of the video.
Aric Toler, head of research
and training at the Dutch investigative outlet Bellingcat, suggested on
Twitter that the video appeared to be authentic and noted that the Russian
soldier seen on the video mutilating the Ukrainian prisoner had been shown in
videos from the Azov steel plant in June.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty
International issued a statement Friday called for an investigation
into the video footage.
