Russia has deployed a battalion composed of Ukrainian prisoners of war to the frontline in Ukraine, in violation of international law, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Photo:PAP/Abaca/AA/ABACA
Russia recently used the “Bogdan Khmelnitsky” unit of Ukrainian POWs in a clash with Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region, the US think tank reported on Thursday night.
The battalion comprises some 70 Ukrainian POWs recruited from penal colonies in Russia, according to Russian state media.
The use of Ukrainian POWs by Russia in the “Bogdan Khmelnitsky” battalion is likely a violation of the Geneva Convention on POWs, the ISW stated.
This convention bans the use of POWs in military activities on the side of the power that has captured them and states that “no POW may at any time be sent to or detained in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of the combat zone” and shall not “be employed on labor which is of an unhealthy or dangerous nature,” the US think tank noted.
Earlier this month, Russian forces executed three Ukrainian POWs in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, breaching international law, as shown by Ukrainian drone footage released on Wednesday.
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Source: ISW, United Nations