On May 21, the American television channel CNN published audio and video materials provided by Ukrainian intelligence, which, according to Ukrainian officials, serve as additional evidence that the Russian military command is issuing orders to execute Ukrainian servicemen who have surrendered. In particular, the recording captures an unidentified Russian officer ordering his subordinates, with call signs “Arta” and “Bely,” to take only the Ukrainian group commander prisoner and to shoot the others. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the interception took place in November 2024 near the village of Novodarivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The drone footage accompanying the audio shows at least two Ukrainian soldiers being executed at point-blank range, while another — presumably the commander — is taken away. Forensic analysis found no signs of editing. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported that the crime was committed by an assault unit of the 394th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 127th Division of Russia’s 5th Army.
Against this backdrop, under the procedural supervision of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office, a new investigation has been launched into the deliberate killing of two Ukrainian prisoners of war on the Pokrovsk front.
On the morning of May 22, 2025, Russian forces launched an assault on the positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces near the village of Udachne in Pokrovsk district, Donetsk region, where four Ukrainian servicemen were located. According to operational information, two of them were taken prisoner and shot dead by the occupiers with automatic weapons directly in a wooded area. The other two are currently listed as missing — their fate is being clarified.
A pre-trial investigation has been initiated under Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder. The execution of unarmed prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and is classified as a serious international crime.
Investigators from the Main Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Donetsk and Luhansk regions are currently conducting all necessary investigative actions to identify those responsible for the war crime and determine the circumstances of the incident.
According to Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, such incidents represent "serious violations of international humanitarian law" and likely would not occur so systematically without at least the tacit consent or direct orders from top military leadership. Yuri Bielousov, Head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, stated that mass executions of prisoners are explained by verbal orders from the top political and military leadership of the Russian Federation.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, the number of cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war continues to rise:
In 2022, 8 criminal proceedings were opened related to the killing of 57 prisoners;
In 2023 — 8 cases involving 11 victims;
In 2024 — 39 cases involving 149 victims;
In 2025, as of May 5 — 20 cases involving the killing of 51 prisoners of war.