A drone video released by Ukraine appears to show Russian soldiers using Ukrainian prisoners of war as human shields.
The video, obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, appears to show a group of Russian soldiers holding assault rifles and walking toward Ukrainian positions while leading unarmed POWs at gunpoint and taking cover behind them.
The video shows the individuals with their hands raised in the air.
It was shot in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, near the village of Robotyne, per the news outlet. A timer in the top-left of the video says it took place on November 29, between 3:09 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. local time.
Business Insider could not independently verify the footage.
The Russian troops involved in the attacks were members of the 234th Air Assault Regiment, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The Russian soldiers came under attack, were forced to retreat, and then returned with the POWs, the outlet reported.
In the video, a soldier can be seen shooting in the direction of one of the captives. The next frame shows a motionless body on the ground. The identity and fate of the prisoner could not be determined, per the outlet.
In a Telegram post on Wednesday, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, said the video likely shows the moment a grenade exploded near a group of Russian soldiers and Ukrainian POWs.
Lubinets added that the footage is evidence that Russia is violating Article 23 of the Geneva Convention.
The Geneva Convention states that no POW may be sent to or held in a location where they may be exposed to fire from the fighting zone.
Russian media has previously reported that Russia may be training Ukrainian POWs to fight and is forming battalions made up of Ukrainian prisoners.
Since August, Russia has not swapped a single POW, Petro Yatsenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, told the US-funded Current Time TV channel last month.
The last swap was held on August 7, when 22 Ukrainian POWs were released, Yatsenko said.
In a Telegram post last month, Lubinets said Russia is refusing further prisoner swaps so that “relatives of the defenders believe that the Ukrainian authorities aren’t doing anything to return the soldiers.”
