（キーウ、2024年5月2日）ロシア軍は、2023年12月初旬以来、投降しようとしたウクライナ人兵士少なくとも15人を処刑し、さらに投降中あるいは投降した6人を処刑したと見られると、ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチは本日発表した。一連の出来事は戦争犯罪として捜査されなければならない。
「ロシアがウクライナに全面侵攻して以来、ロシア軍は多くの凶悪な戦争犯罪を行ってきた」と、ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチの危機・紛争局副局長ベルキス・ヴィレは述べた。「降伏しようとしている負傷したウクライナ兵を冷酷に銃撃する超法規的処刑や殺人は、国際人道法（戦時国際法）で明確に禁じられている。これもまたこれまでの恥ずべき行いの列に加わるものである」。
ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチは、ウクライナ兵少なくとも12人が明らかに超法規的に処刑された3つの事例を調査対象とし、2023年12月2日と27日、また2024年2月25日にソーシャルメディアに投稿されたドローン撮影による動画を検証・分析した。3つの事例すべてで、兵士たちは明確な降伏の意思表示を行っており、もはや敵対行為に参加していないため、国際人道法では戦闘外にあるとみなされ、攻撃の対象となってはならない。
ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチは、これら3件のうち2件の現場を映像から特定した。しかし残りの1件は、動画に詳しい地理情報が含まれていなかったため、正確な場所の特定には至らなかった。ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチは、これら3件の事例で映像を撮影したドローンをロシアとウクライナのどちら側が運用していたのかを確認することはできなかった。
ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチは4つ目の事例の調査として、2月19日にソーシャルメディアに投稿された動画を分析した。ロシア兵2人が降伏した非武装のウクライナ兵3人を処刑する様子を映したものだ。動画を投稿したアカウントは事件の場所を明記しているものの、ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチはその場所を独自に確認できていない。
5番目の事例の調査は、ウクライナ兵1人へのインタビュー、2月18日にあるテレグラム・チャンネルに投稿された動画、犠牲者の1人の家族へのインタビューを含む詳細な報道をもとにした。これらの情報は、この事件で兵士6人が処刑されたことを示唆するものの、当時の状況はあまりはっきりしていない。
これら5件のうちの1つ、2月25日の事例では、X（旧ツイッター）などネット上で広く共有された検証済みのドローン動画によると、少なくともウクライナ兵7人が2つの畑の間に生える木々に掘られた塹壕を出て、防弾服を脱いでいて、少なくとも兵士1人はヘルメットも取っていた。その上で、ウクライナ兵全員はロシア兵（腕と脚にまいた赤色のテープで識別できる）5人に銃口を向けられてうつ伏せになっていた。その後、ロシア兵3人が明らかに降伏したウクライナ兵に向かって背後と両側から発砲したのである。
ウクライナ兵のうち6人はうつ伏せのままだったが、銃撃された衝撃の反動で明らかに身体が動いた。残りの1人はもう一度塹壕に入ろうとしたが、再び銃撃された。事件はドネツク州イヴァニフスケ（Ivanivske）村付近で起きた。発生現場はGeoConfirmedのボランティアであるEjShahidによってまず特定され、その後ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチの調査員らによって確認された。
処刑とみられるこれらの事例は、例外的とはみられない。ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチはまた、2024年2月5日に投稿された、別の戦場での光景を捉えたロシアのドローン動画も確認している。この事件では、ウクライナ兵が降伏したかどうかはヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチには判別できなかったものの、動画に収められた男性の声は本物だと見られるが、ドネツク州の戦場でロシア兵に命令しているようだ。その声はロシア語で「捕虜を取るな、全員射殺せよ」と言っている。動画の視聴覚分析は、ドローンがロシア製であるとの結論を裏付けている。
国連ウクライナ人権監視団が2023年3月に発表した報告書には、全面侵攻発生から1年間でロシア軍とワグネル・グループが15人のウクライナ人捕虜を処刑したことが記録されている。2023年2月から7月までを対象とする定期報告書では、国連はウクライナ人捕虜6人の超法規的処刑を記録している。2024年3月に発表されたフォローアップ報告書は2024年1月から3月について、捕虜または戦闘外に置かれている者少なくとも計32人を対象とする12件の超法規的処刑の報告があったことを確認している。国連はこのうち、ウクライナ兵7人を対象とする3件について独自に裏付けを行った。
4月9日、ウクライナ検事総長室は、54人のウクライナ人捕虜の処刑に関する27件の捜査を進めていると発表した。また、ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチに対し、これらの事件に関する詳しい情報を提供することはできないと回答したが、超法規的処刑の容疑でロシア兵に3通の嫌疑通知を出しているとした。うち1通は欠席裁判ですでに判決が出ており、最近の文書では4通目があるとした。国連ウクライナ人権監視団は、全面侵攻中にウクライナ軍がロシア人捕虜を虐待した事例を記録している。
ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチは4月22日、ロシアのセルゲイ・ショイグ国防相に書簡を送り、上記の事件の詳細と、降伏したウクライナ兵を捕らえるのではなく殺害するようロシア軍に命令した事実があるか尋ねた。現時点で回答はない。
国際人道法は、国際武力紛争の当事者に対し、戦闘外にあるか、捕虜となった武装勢力をいかなる状況であっても人道的に待遇することを義務づけている。こうした勢力を故意に殺害、虐待、拷問することは戦争犯罪だ。捕虜の殺害を命じたり、降伏する兵士を捕らえるのではなく処刑するようにと命じたりすることは、「助命しないことを宣言すること」にあたり、国際人道法で固く禁じられている。こうした命令は、ロシアの国際人道法上の義務はもちろん自国の軍事法規にも反するものであり、このような命令を出すことも実行することも戦争犯罪である。
ロシア政府は、国際人道法に拘束されることはもちろん、市民的及び政治的権利に関する国際規約（市民権規約）の締約国でもある。同条約では超法規的殺害が固く禁じられている。
ロシア政府はまた、国際人道法により、自国軍によるか、自国の支配領域でなされた戦争犯罪の疑いを調査し、訴追する義務を負う。しかし、30年以上にわたりヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチが広範に収集してきたチェチェン、ジョージア、シリア、ウクライナでの国際人道法違反行為に関する情報は、ロシアが自国軍による戦争犯罪をはじめとする国際法違反行為の訴追の意思がなかったことを明確に示している。
「どの事例もおぞましいものだが、おそらく最も明確に犯罪行為を示唆するのは、少なくとも1つの事例で、ロシア軍が兵士の降伏を許さず、殺害するようはっきり命じていることを示す証拠だ。これは戦争犯罪の是認である」と、前出のヴィレ副局長は指摘した。
For more information on the four additional incidents documented, and an apparent Russian instruction to take no quarter, please see below.
Below are details of four of the five incidents, with the fifth detailed above. Researchers closely analyzed the videos, observing the use of each side’s identification tape – blue for Ukraine and white or red for Russia – and the distinct hues of the soldiers’ military fatigues to differentiate between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. They uploaded screenshots from each video to reverse search image engines and found no records of them before early December 2023.
Drone Footage Posted on December 2, 2023, from the Donetska region
On December 2, drone footage was uploaded to Telegram on a channel called DeepState UA, an open-source organization that has been monitoring and mapping military actions in Ukraine since February 2022. The footage appears to show Russian soldiers executing two surrendering Ukrainian soldiers in a tree line between two fields. One of the surrendering soldiers, wearing a Ukrainian uniform, has visible blue tape around their arm, regularly worn by Ukrainian soldiers. The first surrendering Ukrainian soldier exits the entrance of a dugout with their hands above their head and lies face down on the ground a few meters away. Six Russian soldiers, identifiable by their relatively darker camouflage, have their guns trained at the Ukrainian soldier and the entrance to the dugout.
A second Ukrainian soldier exits the dugout, hunched over with one arm partially raised and the second hanging limp, and then suddenly stumbles. In the footage neither soldier appears to be carrying any weapons in their hands. At least two Russian soldiers proceed to fire at and execute the second Ukrainian and then a few seconds later, execute the first Ukrainian soldier, who gets up to move toward the dugout after shots are fired in his direction.
Human Rights Watch was unable to independently verify the location, but the poster of the clip provides a map to the video’s location and identifies it as 700 meters southeast of Stepove village in the Donetska region of eastern Ukraine. On December 2, 2023, on social media, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) asserted the authenticity of the video.
Drone Footage Posted on December 27, 2023, from the Zaporizka region
A screen-recording of drone footage uploaded to Telegram on December 27 by a user called 4sman4lav_osman, who says they are a volunteer with Ukraine’s 24th Separate Assault Battalion “Aidar,” apparently shows three Ukrainian soldiers kneeling with their hands on their heads in a field between Verbove and Robotyne villages in the Zaporizka region. The group is surrounded by four Russian soldiers standing about 15 meters away. As one Russian soldier moves toward the captives, smoke discharges from his weapon in the direction of the Ukrainian soldiers, and all three immediately collapse. Subsequently, the same Russian soldier appears to shoot two of the fallen Ukrainian soldiers at close range.
The location was initially verified by a member of the open-source research community EjShahid, a volunteer for GeoConfirmed, and later confirmed by Human Rights Watch researchers. On December 28, on social media the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the incident occurred, stating that the soldiers had been members of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade and were hors de combat when killed.
Media Coverage and Video Posted on February 16, 2024, from the Donetska region
A video posted to a Telegram channel called RVvoenkor on February 16, during the capture of the city of Avdiivka, in the Donetska region, shows the bodies of six Ukrainian soldiers who, evidence suggests, surrendered to Russian troops who had captured their position.
The video is a series of clips stitched together that show six bodies. At least four of them, dressed in military fatigues consistent with the pattern worn by the Ukrainian armed forces, lie in and around a muddy pool of water that appears to be colored red by blood. None of the people in the video appear to have any weapons on or near them, nor do they appear to be wearing combat protective equipment.
One of the deceased is clutching a water bottle, while a second one has a Ukrainian flag partially curled up across their legs. A third has blue tape around their arm, consistent with tape worn by Ukrainian soldiers. The video features a watermark of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) 1st Sloviansk Brigade’s logo in the top right corner, alongside the name of a popular Russian Telegram channel, RVvoenkory.
Viktor Biliak, a soldier from Ukraine’s 110th brigade, was stationed in Avdiivka for 620 days until he and others withdrew from a position on the city’s outskirts as Russian forces took full control of the city. He told Human Rights Watch they withdrew over the course of two nights between February 13 and 15, after the city had already been encircled. As they withdrew, five soldiers who had been stationed with Biliak were unable to leave because they had serious injuries. One of Biliak’s colleagues stayed with them. All six soldiers believed they would be evacuated.
On the morning of February 15, after a radio conversation between the commander and the six men, two of them sent a series of messages to the brigade’s Signal group. Human Rights Watch received screenshots of these messages from a source who cannot be identified for security reasons. Two of the men left behind, Georgiy Pavlov and Andriy Dubnytskyi, wrote messages saying they and four other injured men had been left behind and curse the commanders for leaving them behind, saying God would judge them for it. The soldiers’ brigade later acknowledged on social media that they were unable to evacuate the injured due to intense fighting and their command negotiated for the Russian side to evacuate them and exchange them later.
According to a BBC interview with Inna Pavlova, Pavlov’s mother, on the morning of February 15, she received a message from Pavlov saying, “The Russians know that we are here alone.” She hadn’t heard from him since. Dmitriy, the brother-in-law of Ivan Zhytnyk, another one of the men left behind, said Zhytnyk video-called him. He played a recording of the call to the BBC. In the middle of the conversation, a Russian soldier enters the building, and a voice says, “Put the gun away.”’ “Are they there?” Dmitriy asks Ivan, who answers “Yes.” At this point, Dmitriy stopped recording video, the article says, but the call continued for a couple of minutes longer. “I saw a bearded man,” Dmitriy told the BBC. “I asked Ivan to give him the phone. I wanted to ask them not to kill them. But I heard the voice say: ‘Switch off the phone.’”
Biliak confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the location seen in the Telegram video was the location the forces had held on the outskirts of Avdiivka where he had separated from Pavlov, Dubnytskyi, Zhytnyk, and the three other men. He also confirmed that the body of Dubnytskyi is among those shown in the video, saying he recognized a tattoo on his right hand.
Video Posted on February 19, 2024, from the Zaporizka region
Another incident, captured in a video uploaded to a Telegram channel called Аморальна UKRAINE (Immoral UKRAINE) on February 19, shows what appears to be two Russian soldiers, identified by white tape around their armbands and their relatively darker camouflage, executing three unarmed Ukrainian soldiers, identified by their lighter military camouflage. Two of the Ukrainian soldiers – one of whom appears injured and walks unsteadily – are exiting a trench watched by two Russian soldiers, while a third Ukrainian lies on a mound of dirt directly next to one of the Russian soldiers. A third Russian soldier approaches the trench and proceeds to open fire on the standing Ukrainian soldiers. The two Ukrainian soldiers quickly fall to the ground.
The same Russian soldier then aims at and executes the Ukrainian soldier lying on the dirt mound, who covers his head with his hands just before the soldier opens fire. The Russian solider then reloads and fires additional rounds into all three Ukrainian soldiers as another soldier fires shots into one of the two Ukrainian soldiers who appears to be still alive. Although the account that posted the clip stated the incident occurred near Robotyne, Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the location independently.
No Quarter Calls in Drone Footage Posted on February 5, 2024, from the Donetska region
One video clip taken by a Russian drone and uploaded on February 5 to a Telegram channel called ATO Donetsk, which promotes content about the DPR and the Russian military, shows four Russian soldiers attacking a dugout in a forested area where at least two Ukrainian soldiers are hidden. A male voice behind the screen gives commands to the Russian soldiers on the ground, multiple times repeating orders in Russian to “take no prisoners, shoot everyone.” Human Rights Watch cannot determine from the video whether the Ukrainian soldiers surrendered.
One of the Russian soldiers nears the entrance of a dugout where two Ukrainian soldiers, identified by their light camouflage, are positioned. The first Ukrainian soldier begins to emerge cautiously with a second soldier close behind while the Russian soldier observes. About seven seconds later, the Russian soldier starts shooting, causing both Ukrainian soldiers to collapse to the ground. The first Ukrainian soldier lies motionless on the ground while the second Ukrainian crawls back into the dugout. The voice says “good, one was killed, well done.”
After that the speaker says “Guys, kill everyone, the second [Ukrainian soldier] is wounded, shoot him from atop, shoot him, take no prisoners.” A second Russian soldier approaches the entrance and throws a grenade into the dugout that the Ukrainian soldier had crawled back into. The voice then says: “Grenade, well done, here you go. And the second one was finished too, well done, guys.”
Human Rights Watch was able to confirm the location of the clip, which is a small forest 1.3 km east of Klishchiivka, Donetska region. The location was first verified by a Telegram channel that posts geolocations of similar videos. Human Rights Watch analyzed the audio for any signs of manipulation and found no obvious hallmarks of manipulation. The audiovisual analysis demonstrates that the gunshots and grenades seen in the video match the muffled sounds transmitted through the radio to the voice behind the screen with a roughly 2.5 seconds delay to the visuals throughout the clip. This strongly suggests that the individual behind the screen is actively directing the soldiers on the ground in real-time by issuing commands. The video was shared by a pro-Russian Telegram channel and covered by pro-Russian media, lending credibility to the authenticity of the audio.
