The United States has “credible information” that Russian forces executed Ukrainians who were trying to surrender near Donetsk, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
“We now have credible information that a Russian military unit operating in the vicinity of Donetsk executed Ukrainians who were attempting to surrender, rather than take them into custody,” Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Beth Van Schaack, told a United Nations meeting.
“If true, this would be in violation of a core principle of the law of war: the prohibition against the summary execution of civilians and of combatants who are hors de combat by virtue of surrender, injury, or other forms of incapacitation,” she added.