Russian forces have executed at least 345 Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered since the start of the full-scale war, Ukrainian Ombudsperson Dmytro Lubinets said at a press conference at Ukrinform.

The figure is the latest point on a documented and rising curve of a systematic war crime. Ukraine's prosecutors and international monitors have tracked these killings from 268 confirmed by July 2025 to over 330 by March 2026. Financial Times investigation found the executions appear to be systematic military policy directed from Russian command, with intercepted orders to "shoot prisoners on the spot."

The victims had surrendered

Lubinets described people killed after they had given up.

"It means that they laid down their weapons, came out with raised hands, lay on the ground, and showed they were no longer fighting," he said, and Russian soldiers examined them and confirmed they were unarmed.

Then the soldiers killed them.

"We have recorded cases where they fully demand that the clothes be removed. And after that, they force them to lie on the ground the same way, and shoot the Ukrainian soldiers at point-blank range," Lubinets added.

Killing a surrendered soldier is a war crime

Lubinets stressed the legal character of the act. The killing of soldiers who have surrendered is a distinct war crime, he said.

The prohibition is absolute. Under the Geneva Conventions, a soldier who lays down arms and surrenders is protected, and killing a prisoner of war is a grave breach of international law. Common Article 3 of the Third Geneva Convention prohibits "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds" against those who have laid down their arms, with no battlefield circumstance that permits it, per the ICRC.

The count keeps rising and accountability lags

Ukraine documents each case for eventual prosecution, but most perpetrators are in Russia, beyond reach, and Russian courts and media have glorified the killings rather than punished them.

Ukraine now holds prisoners of war (POWs) from 51 countries who fought for Russia, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner, said on 4 August. 

The figure illustrates the global reach of Moscow’s efforts to replenish its forces with foreign recruits. Russia has targeted people abroad with promises of well-paid jobs, university places, and military salaries. Some enlist knowingly. Others report being deceived or pressured into service.

Speaking at a meeting of heads of Ukraine’s foreign diplomatic missions, Lubinets said joining Russia’s war carries “real legal consequences.” He did not disclose the prisoners’ nationalities or their total number.

The human cost extends beyond those captured. A July 2026 BBC Russian Service/Mediazona investigation documented at least 3,589 foreign nationals who had died fighting for Russia. The total comprised 1,285 people from more than 40 countries and 2,304 North Korean troops. 

Russia throws its recruitment net across the globe

Moscow has increasingly looked abroad for soldiers as its invasion consumes manpower. Recruiters focus heavily on Africa, Asia, and Latin America, offering civilian work, education, high salaries, or military service. 

A human rights investigation covered by Euromaidan Press found that Russia had recruited at least 27,000 people from more than 130 countries since February 2022. Researchers said recruits often received Russian-language contracts they could not understand, while some faced threats or rapid deployment to combat. 

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In Africa, recruitment operates within a broader Russian soft power influence network. Russian Houses offer language courses and routes into Russian universities. Ukraine’s military intelligence describes Russian Houses as a pipeline through which some young Africans reach Russia as students or workers and later enter Moscow’s army. 

Beyond Africa, Russia preys upon the disadvantaged with promises of work. An Associated Press investigation found that Bangladeshi men promised cleaning jobs in Russia were instead sent into combat.

Foreign recruits abandoned after capture

For those captured, neither Russia nor their home governments offer a clear route home. Ukraine’s POW Coordination Headquarters said Moscow had excluded foreign recruits from prisoner exchanges, although some embassies had visited their citizens. 

A Kenyan Foreign Ministry official stated the government was following reports of several trafficked Kenyans held as POWs in Ukraine. Yet Ukrainian POW official Petro Yatsenko said most African governments showed little interest in bringing their citizens home. 

China likewise asked Ukraine to treat two captured Chinese fighters humanely, but did not say whether it sought their return. Ukrainian officials said Russia had inquired only about captured North Korean soldiers, showing little interest in other foreign fighters in captivity. 

Russian forces likely executed another Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW), Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on July 1, referring to a recent video that appears to show the captive tied to a motorcycle and dragged along a road.

The alleged execution adds to growing evidence that Russian forces are systematically violating the Geneva Conventions by killing Ukrainian captives.

"A video is circulating on social media showing a man being tied to a motorcycle and dragged along the road," Lubinets said in a statement.

"It is a clear act of demonstrative cruelty and yet another war crime by the Russian Federation."

Lubinets said he has sent official letters regarding the suspected war crime to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"Russia is acting as a terrorist state. And it must be held fairly accountable for every crime," he added.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) alone reported in May that it had documented more than 150 cases of Ukrainian soldiers being executed after surrendering to Russian forces. Officials noted that these were only the confirmed incidents, and the real number is likely higher.

HUR and other agencies say such executions are not isolated but part of a broader, deliberate policy directed by Russia's military leadership. Multiple intelligence reports suggest that Russian soldiers have received explicit orders to kill prisoners of war.

The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine confirmed in March growing numbers of incidents in which Russian forces killed or maimed surrendering Ukrainian troops.

The commission cited testimony from Russian deserters who said they were instructed not to take prisoners but to shoot them on sight.

Earlier this year, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported a sharp increase in POW executions, documenting 79 killings across 24 incidents since August 2024. In many cases, the victims were unarmed or wounded, and some were killed in groups.

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An internal U.N. analysis has found Russia responsible for a 2022 explosion at Olenivka prison, which killed over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on June 30.

"(A)n internal analysis of the U.N. showed that it was the Russian Federation that planned and carried out the attack," he said in a post to social media.

Lubinets referred to a report by the Center for Human Rights in Armed Conflict, whose website features only the investigation into the Olenivka explosion.

The investigation, published on June 26, reads that an "internal U.N. analysis concluded that it was the Russian Federation who planned and executed the attack," though the U.N. did not publicly acknowledge Russia's responsibility.

Russia has denied being responsible for the attack but prevented efforts by the international community to independently investigate the attack and contaminated evidence at the site, according to a report published by the U.N.

Kyiv has said that days before the July 2022 attack, Russia deliberately put Ukrainian members of the Azov Regiment, who were awaiting a prisoner exchange, in a separate part of the Olenivka prison building that was later destroyed in the explosion.

"The report identifies the weapons and ammunition that the Russian Armed Forces used to kill Ukrainian prisoners of war, and also examines in detail the planning, organization, and execution of the murder," Lubinets said.

The ombudsman noted that the U.N. fact-finding mission on Olenivka was disbanded due to a lack of security guarantees, adding that the mission has previously refused to review evidence provided by Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly violated international conventions protecting the rights of POWs as it continues to carry out its war against Ukraine.

A Russian military court has convicted 184 Ukrainian POWs captured in Kursk Oblast of acts of terrorism, Mediazona reported on June 25.

The POWs captured in Kursk were charged with carrying out a grave terrorist act by a group of individuals, as outlined by the Russian Criminal Code.

Junior Lieutenant Yevhen Hoch was convicted of allegedly carrying out an act of terrorism by taking part in Ukraine's Kursk Oblast incursion.

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