Ukraine’s parliament’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, on Sunday commented on an incident in eastern Luhansk, saying Russian soldiers “are the ones fighting and committing treason” and that “returning fire is not a war crime.” Russia has accused Ukraine of war crimes after videos were released on social media that Moscow says show Russian soldiers being killed after surrendering to Ukrainian forces. The exact details of what happened remain unclear. “From some videos about the incident with the Russian army in the Luhansk region it can be concluded that using the gradual surrender, the Russians committed a war crime — they opened fire on the army of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Lubinets said in a post on Telegram on Sunday, implying that the Russians in the video may have acted like they were surrendering but weren’t. “In this case, individuals among the Russian military cannot be considered prisoners of war, but they are those who fight and commit treason,” he said. “Returning fire is not a war crime. Instead, those who want to use the protection of international law to kill must be punished.” What the video appears to show: The edited video purports to show captured Russian soldiers in an act of surrender, with several men lying on the ground in front of them with their hands above their heads. More soldiers are seen coming out of a building one by one and lying down next to them in the courtyard. A voice apparently directing the delivery can be heard shouting: “Come out, one by one. Which of you is the officer? Is everyone out? I am going out!” After about 10 men fall to the ground, another soldier emerges from the same building and appears to open fire in the direction of the surrendering Ukrainian soldiers. A brief burst of gunfire is heard before the video clip ends abruptly. A second clip later shot by a drone over the same location shows the bodies of the same Russian soldiers in the courtyard, most just meters from where they lay in the first clip. CNN was unable to verify exactly what happened in the first video clip, and it’s unclear exactly what happened in the time between the first clip and the filming of the drone footage. UN investigates: Marta Hurtado, spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, said, according to Reuters: “We are aware of the videos and are looking into them. are fully and effectively investigated and perpetrators held accountable.” More context: A UN panel of experts said in September that its investigation found evidence of war crimes committed during Russia’s war in Ukraine, including cases of rape and torture of children.
