Zelensky blasts Russian ‘beasts’ after alleged POW beheading video
The footage, which has not yet been verified, circulated on social media on Wednesday.
Le Monde with AFP
Published yesterday at 12:19 pm (Paris), updated yesterday at 3:07 pm
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, April 12, denounced Russian “beasts” after a video surfaced on social media purporting to show the decapitation of a Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW). Agence France-Presse was unable to independently verify the footage.
“There is something that no one in the world can ignore: how easily these beasts kill,” Zelensky said in a video address released on social media. “We won’t forget anything, nor will we forgive murderers,” he added, vowing to bring justice to his war-torn nation. “This video… The execution of a Ukrainian captive… The world must see it,” Zelensky added.
The Kremlin said the authenticity of the “horrible” images had to be verified. “First of all, the authenticity of this horrible footage needs to be verified,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that “we live in a world of fakes.”
A UN mission in Ukraine said on Wednesday it was “appalled” by “gruesome” videos including footage showing an alleged decapitation of a Ukrainian prisoner of war. “One of the videos shows a brutal execution of a man who appears to be a Ukrainian prisoner of war, while the other one shows mutilated bodies of apparent Ukrainian POWs.”
The video, which lasts around one minute 40 seconds, shows a masked man in camouflage decapitating another man in uniform. Other voices are heard encouraging the attacker in Russian. After the man is decapitated, a voice is heard saying that the head should be sent “to the commander.” The victim’s vest bearing the Ukrainian trident can also be seen in the footage.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of killing prisoners of war since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago and several videos alleging to show prisoners of war killings have made the rounds on the internet.
