The United Nations on Friday accused Ukrainian and Russian forces of carrying out dozens of extrajudicial executions of prisoners of war during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, expressed "great concern" about the execution of "25 Russian prisoners of war" by the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as "the execution of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war" by the Russians.

Bogner confirmed that the United Nations documented these executions of Russians, which were carried out by Ukrainian forces "often ... immediately after their capture on the battlefield."

She added that the United Nations is aware of five investigations conducted by Kiev related to 22 victims, but "we have not been informed of any prosecution of the perpetrators" of these crimes.

As for the Russian armed forces' execution of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war "soon after their arrest," the official said that 11 of these operations were carried out by the Russian armed Wagner Group.

Ukraine and Russia have been exchanging accusations since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 of mistreating prisoners, which constitute war crimes.

And the Wagner Group is on the front lines of the battle for control of the city of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the battles in eastern Ukraine.
In early March, a video appeared to show the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers, shocking Ukraine.

In November, the Kremlin denounced two videos that appeared to show the execution of about a dozen Russian soldiers after they surrendered to Ukrainian forces.