[ad_1]
KIEV, March 7 (AP) — The Ukrainian military on Tuesday tentatively identified a man as its missing soldier who appeared to be shot dead by a Russian-speaking individual in a short video that went viral on Ukrainian social media and caused an uproar of.
The country’s chief prosecutor announced a criminal investigation into the killing, which human rights chief Dmytro Lubinets argued violated the Geneva Conventions.
Senior Ukrainian officials claimed, without providing further evidence, that the man was an unarmed prisoner of war killed by Russian soldiers.
The 30th Mechanized Brigade named the man Tymofii Shadura on its Facebook page.
It said the identification was based on preliminary information and was not final.
The post said Shadullah had been missing for more than a month amid heavy fighting in the Bakhmut region of eastern Ukraine.
The city has been a hotspot for fighting as the war entered its second year.
The post added that he would be identified once the body was returned from the Russian-occupied area, but did not say when that would happen.
The Ukrainian military’s general staff gave the dead soldier the same name, saying it was “based on preliminary information”.
In the 12-second video, men in combat uniforms can be seen smoking in the woods.
Someone off camera speaks in Russian. The man then utters “the glory of Ukraine” before being hit by a barrage of gunshots and falling into a hole in the ground as the off-camera voice says “fuck you” followed by expletives.
The Associated Press was unable to verify the authenticity of the video, or any details about when it was recorded or who was involved.
Questions from The Associated Press to the Russian military about the video were not immediately returned.
The video, which went viral on Ukrainian social media, sparked an uproar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening video address: “I hope that we will all unite and respond to the (soldier’s) words: ‘Glory to the heroes! Glory to the heroes! Glory to Ukraine! “We’ll find the murderer.”
Moscow has also expressed doubts about the way the Ukrainian military has treated Russian prisoners of war.
In November, Ukraine said it would launch an investigation into video clips circulating on Russian social media that Moscow said showed Ukrainian soldiers killing Russian soldiers who might be trying to surrender, as one of the men appeared to refuse to lower his weapon and open fire.
Among other developments:
— UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres traveled to Ukraine to meet with Zelensky in Kiev on Wednesday. The two countries will discuss extending an agreement that allows Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports and Russia to export food and fertilizer.
— At least one civilian has been killed and 11 others wounded in Ukraine over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian president’s office reported Tuesday. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said intense fighting continued in the region for the key city of Bakhmut, where fewer than 4,000 remained from a pre-war population of 70,000 civilians.
— A Hungarian parliamentary delegation expressed support for Sweden’s NATO membership during a visit to Denmark on Tuesday. Some Hungarian lawmakers have refused to support Sweden and Finland’s bids to join NATO because they called Stockholm and Helsinki “blatant lies” about the state of Hungary’s democracy. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
share now
[ad_2]
Source link