Russia’s Propaganda Warfare Focuses on the Ukrainian Army’s Execution of Prisoners

Kung Chan, founder of ANBOUND

A statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense condemned what it said was a “deliberate and methodical murder of more than 10 restrained Russian soldiers” by shooting directly at their heads, claiming that this is the latest war crime committed by Ukraine in the war.

CNN has contacted the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine twice in 24 hours to request comments on the video clip allegedly depicting the execution but has not yet received a response.

A spokesman for the 80th Airborne Brigade of Ukraine told CNN that the drone footage was filmed by the brigade’s aerial reconnaissance unit. When asked to verify whether the Ukrainian soldiers in the video were also members of his brigade, the spokesman only stated that he did not know anyone in the video.

It is difficult to verify the incident during the war, and in fact, it is hard to do so for all reports during the war. What can be used in determining truthfulness is based on the openness of the information environment. This means that what Ukraine says is normally true, or most of it is true because of its open environment that allows information to be gradually verified. Conversely, what is stated by Russia has the chance to be false, as it is not a closed, unverifiable information environment. Russia has expelled all journalists and shut down all popular news coverage, even Nobel Prize-winning news editors.

According to Ukraine’s explanation, the executed prisoners faked their surrender, and some of them had actually shot the Ukrainian soldiers, causing death and injury, forcing the Ukrainian side to kill them. Under the Geneva Conventions, the execution of prisoners of war is a war crime, but so is the act of false surrender. Russia, as it stands, uses unfamiliar legal definitions of war crimes to create propaganda effects.

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