Video shows Russian soldiers may have used Ukrainian POWs as human shields

Russian soldiers on the Zaporizhzhia front may have used Ukrainian POWs as human shields during combat, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Ukrainian service, citing a video taken by one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) units using a drone.

According to RFE/RL, the footage was shot in the vicinity of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region. The exact location, which journalists were able to verify, has not been disclosed for security reasons.

Journalists write that in the 19-minute video, “a group of Russian soldiers, with their automatic weapons ready for battle, are seen moving towards Ukrainian positions. In front of them are unarmed individuals, walking with their hands raised.” In the video, one of the armed soldiers physically shields himself with an unarmed person, holding him by the shoulder.

The unarmed individuals are dressed in uniforms different from those worn by the armed people. The Russian soldiers appear to be periodically shooting “from behind the backs of the unarmed individuals” toward AFU positions.

Eventually, a fight ensues between the advancing and defending forces, after which one of the presumed POWs, separated from the group, is left lying on the ground. Judging by the video, the shot at him was fired by a Russian soldier, RFE/RL reports.

Ukrainian military personnel, who provided the video to journalists, described the actions shown in the video as reconnaissance by combat, aimed at identifying AFU positions’ fire capabilities.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, commenting on the footage, stated that this is the first such video he has seen during the war. He added that the Geneva Convention “explicitly prohibits the use of POWs in combat” and that “prisoners, once granted official [POW] status, must be kept in a specially created camp away from the frontline.”