There have been reports of 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since the end of August 2024. There have been reports of 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since the end of August 2024, the mission in Ukraine said. International humanitarian law prohibits the execution of prisoners of war and the wounded, and regards it as a war crime. "Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were in physical custody of the Russian armed forces were shot dead on the spot. Witness accounts also described the killings of unarmed and injured Ukrainian soldiers," the mission said in a statement.

Reuters has requested comment from the Russian defence ministry and from Ukrainian officials, but has yet to receive any response. The UN body obtained and analysed video and photo material published by Ukrainian and Russian sources showing executions or dead bodies and conducted detailed interviews with witnesses. It said the reported executions took place in areas where Russian offensive operations were underway.

Danielle Bell, head of the mission, said some Russian officials "have explicitly called for inhumane treatment, and even execution" of captured Ukrainian soldiers. The mission said it also documented the execution of a wounded and incapacitated Russian soldier by the Ukrainian armed forces in 2024, but gave no details. It comes as a senior eastern Ukrainian separatist who had organised combat units to fight against his own country has reportedly been killed following an explosion in northwest Moscow.

At least five people were wounded or killed after what has been reported as a bomb detonated at the Alye Parusa residential complex in the capital. Russian state media site Tass claimed Armen Sarkisyan, 46, a senior pro-Russian paramilitary from east Ukraine's Donetsk region, died in hospital after being seriously injured in the explosion. They claimed the explosion had been an “assassination” attempt. One of Mr Sarkisyan’s bodyguards was killed by the blast.

Mr Sarkisyan is a close associate of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted after the Euromaidan revolution in 2014. Ukraine’s security services, the SBU, says Mr Sarkisyan has been on their international wanted list since then for organising murders in central Kyiv. After the full-scale invasion in 2022, Mr Sarkisyan also reportedly organised the “Arbat” Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion to fight against Ukraine.