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- A new image posted by Ukrainian authorities appears to show the skull of a Ukrainian soldier impaled.
- The news comes after a recent prison bombing in Olenivka, Donetsk region, killed 53 military personnel.
- This report contains details that some readers may find disturbing.
A new image posted by Ukrainian authorities appears to show the skull of a Ukrainian prisoner of war captured by Russian forces in May on a stick in a building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Popasana.
The governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serhii Heidai, shared the unsettling photo on his Telegram channel. Insider could not independently verify the image.
Geolocation tools suggest it’s real, The Guardian said, and the gruesome photo was taken in late July not far from the center of Popasana.
Beside the head is the remains of a mutilated body in uniform with arms outstretched. A video shows two hands resting on metal spikes on either side of the fence, The Guardian reported.
“There is nothing human about the Russians. We are at war with non-humans,” Haiday said under the picture.
Popsana is located in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, and Russia has fought hard to keep its territory after its army was humiliated in the first months of the invasion. In early May, the Ukrainian army retreated from the city. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said his troops had taken control of the city, The Guardian reported.
The latest allegations of brutality stem from a shooting at Olenivka prison, which houses Ukrainian prisoners of war. Russia and Ukraine blamed the other party.
Photos taken of the attack show charred bodies and skeletal remains.
A detainee recently released from the Olenivka detention center outside Donetsk said Ukrainian forces torture and kill them.
“We heard their cries,” Anna Vorosheva told the Guardian. “They played loud music to cover the noise. Torment was happening all the time.”
A shootout at a pre-trial detention center in the Olenivka settlement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict on July 29, 2022.
REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Shortly after the bombing, a video of a Russian soldier tossing a Ukrainian prisoner went viral on social media.
A Ukrainian MP told Insider: “I wish I had never seen this video in retrospect. But we knew it was in the occupied territories. The Russian military brutalizes, maims and kills Ukrainians, both civilians and military.”
Responding to the footage, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Marie Struthers, said: “This horrific attack is yet another example of the utter disregard for human life and dignity by Russian forces in Ukraine.”
On the other hand, the head of Amnesty International’s Ukrainian arm resigned after the human rights organization criticized Kiev for its peaceful struggle during the war and violations of international law, according to reports.
The group claims Ukrainian forces have set up military bases in schools, hospitals and civilian areas, in violation of international human rights laws.
Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty International Ukraine, said in a Facebook post late Friday that the report had “become a tool of Russian propaganda,” according to Politico.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyislam described the report as an attempt to “give amnesty to the terrorist state and shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim.”
Secretary-General Agnes Callamard told the AFP news agency that Amnesty “will stop our research completely.”
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