Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (REUTERS File Photo)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has appealed to the international community for assistance following reports of the alleged shootings of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian soldiers.
The International Criminal Court must issue arrest warrants for the "Russian executioners and torturers," the top diplomat wrote on X on Sunday.
Sybiha also called for international observers and doctors to be granted access to the prisoner camps, noting that the UN believes 95% of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia face torture.
His comments came after reports of the execution of nine Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered during fighting in the western Russian region of Kursk after expending all their ammunition.
According to Ukrainian media reports on the weekend, they were executed on the spot.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets on Sunday urged the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take action.
"Russia is a terrorist state that violates all rules of war. The international community must not turn a blind eye to such crimes," he wrote on social media.
Recently, a Russian soldier was captured who is alleged to have shot several Ukrainian soldiers with his comrades in early September after they had laid down their arms. The act had been filmed by a reconnaissance drone. The prosecutor's office in Kiev said it is aware of over 90 cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
