Monday 16 May 2022 02:49 PM Putin's Russian commanders are slaughtering their own wounded soldiers, ... trends now
Russian commanders are slaughtering their own wounded soldiers instead of retrieving them from the battlefield for treatment, Putin's own troops have said.
A lieutenant-colonel was accused of personally shooting dead multiple troops as they lay injured.
It comes as investigations in the horror town of Bucha have revealed 650 civilians were shot rather than hit by shelling in what police say proves they were executed by Russian thugs.
But their barbarity is not directed only towards the Ukrainians, as Russians spoke out about the brutal killings of their own forces within the ranks.
Captured troops recalled one commander asking a soldier if he could walk after suffering an injury, and when the man replied he could not, the officer killed him instantly.
Russian commanders are slaughtering their own wounded soldiers instead of retrieving them from the battlefield for treatment, according to Putin's own troops
The chilling account comes from young army intelligence troops captured by the Ukrainians.
They are shown speaking in a video clip made by Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Zolkin who has chronicled Russian captives for Open Media Ukraine.
One soldier told how commanders had 'finished off their wounded'.
Asked by Zolkin what he meant, the captured Russian said: 'Just like that…a wounded soldier is lying on the ground, and a battalion's commander shoots him dead from a gun.'
He explained: 'It was a young man, he was wounded.
A lieutenant-colonel was accused of personally shooting dead multiple troops as they lay injured
A grave of Russian soldiers is discovered in Vilkkhivka, near Kharkiv, with many troops desperate to escape the horrors of war
Ukrainian solders examine the wreck of a Russian tank in an image taken on an unknown date at an unknown location, but released by the country's defence ministry on Monday
'He was on the ground. He was asked if he could walk, so he was shot dead with a gun.'
A second soldier said on the video: 'The most important thing - this wasn't a single case. The Lieutenant-Colonel was walking around….'
A third soldier then says: 'He shot four or five like this.'
The second soldier says: 'They were all young men.'
They are shown speaking in a video clip made by Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Zolkin (pictured) who has chronicled Russian captives for Open Media Ukraine
The third added: 'They could have been rescued, given help, taken out of there. He simply shot them dead.'
There was no clarity from the video where in Ukraine the alleged shooting of wounded soldiers by their commander took place.
Nor was it clear from the exchanges where the men had been captured, or in which unit they served.
The video came as Ukraine has accused Russia of failing to take back its dead.
Some corpses are loaded in white body bags on refrigerated train wagons.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Ostorozhno Media that the Kremlin has 'no information' on either the bodies of the dead soldiers nor the wounded in Ukraine.
He was told: 'People from all over the country write in social networks that they cannot even get the bodies [of the dead soldiers in Ukraine]. The captives are in trouble too…
'What will we do with our dead and will we exchange captives?'
He replied: 'We do not have this information. It is with the Ministry of Defence.'
Elsewhere today, Ukrainian troops have reached the Russian border after successfully pushing Putin's forces away from the country's second-city of Kharkiv.
Ukrainian troops have posed with a border marker on the frontier with Russia having counter-attacked to the north of Kharkiv and pushed Putin's army out of the country, the regional governor said today
It is thought the footage was filmed Sunday to the north of the town of Ternova, around two miles from the Russian border, which Ukrainian troops had captured the day before
Soldiers carrying a border marker painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag and bearing the country's trident emblem filmed themselves planting the post somewhere along the frontier, to the north of Kharkiv.
'Today the 15th May, Kharkiv's territorial defence forces of Ukraine - 227th battalion, 127th brigade - went to the border that marks the split between the Russian Federation - the occupiers - and Ukraine. We are here' one of the soldiers said in footage posted online today by regional governor Oleh Synyehubov.
It is unclear exactly where the footage was filmed though it was likely taken near Ternova - a town roughly two miles from the Russian border which Ukrainian troops entered on Saturday, according to military top brass.
Ukraine has now all-but pushed Russian troops away from Kharkiv, alleviating a bombardment of the city which began on the first day of the war and has seen thousands of civilians killed or wounded.
It came as NATO chief Jens Stoltenburg predicted that Ukraine can 'win' the war having turned back offensives on Kyiv, Kharkiv and stalled the main advance in Donbas.
Stoltenburg, speaking Sunday during a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Berlin as Finland and Sweden announced formal plans to join the alliance, said the invasion is 'not going as Moscow had planned'.
Video of the Ukrainian troops carrying the marker post to the border confirms that Russia has all-but abandoned efforts to take Kharkiv, having already failed to seize the capital Kyiv
A man examines the ruins of his house in the village of Mala Rogan, to the east of Kharkiv, after Ukrainian troops recaptured the area from Russian forces in the past few days
Ukrainian troops move past the ruins of a destroyed Russian vehicle along with discarded artillery shells in a village to the north of Kharkiv which has now been recaptured by Kyiv's men
'They failed to take Kyiv. They are pulling back from around Kharkiv. Their major offensive in Donbas has stalled. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives. Ukraine can win this war,' he said, without spelling out what exactly 'victory' would mean.
In the early days of the war, Ukraine viewed victory as the survival of the state and withdrawal of Russian forces to pre-invasion territories plus the payment of reparations, foreign minister Dymtro Kuleba said last week.
But as the war has evolved, Kuleba says the goal is now to push Russia out of all Ukrainian territory - including occupied Crimea and rebel-held areas of Donbas.
Key to the outcome of the war will be the battle for the eastern Donbas region, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying his commanders are braced for a renewed Russian attack in the area today.
A car marked with the 'Z' invasion symbol and riddled with bullet holes is seen in the Ukrainian village of Ruska Lozova, in the Kharkiv region, after it was re-taken by Kyiv's men in recent days
A local resident looks at a destroyed Russian tank next to a residential house in the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv
'We are preparing for new attempts by Russia to attack in Donbas, to somehow intensify its movement in the south of Ukraine,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.
'The occupiers still do not want to admit that they are in a dead-end and their so-called 'special operation' has already gone bankrupt,' he added.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich told local television that Russian troops were being transferred in the direction of Donbas after withdrawing from Kharkiv following the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Kyiv's troops have made so much progress in the northern region that they have almost reached the border with Russia, according to interior ministry adviser Vadim Denisenko.
The Ukrainian army said Monday that some Russian forces remained to try and block the advance, and air sirens sounded in Kharkiv city in the early hours.
Meanwhile, Russia appears to have started moving nuclear-capable missiles to Finland's border just a day after the country announced it will bid to join NATO.
Video posted on Russian social media today shows trucks carrying Iskander ballistic missiles - which can be tipped with nuclear warheads - moving through the country, reportedly on a highway to Vyborg, on the Finnish border.
'As soon as the president of Finland said they were joining NATO, a whole division of
