"Capture him and kill the others": Putin's terrifying new order

“Capture the commander and kill the others”, a chilling order picked up via radio, suggesting that the Kremlin urged its army to execute surrendering Ukrainian soldiers.

The phrase comes from a series of intercepted communications by Ukrainian intelligence services, according to CNN. The audio recordings between Russian soldiers may coincide with drone footage from November 2024, filmed in the Zaporizhia region, eastern Ukraine. The footage shows six Ukrainian soldiers lying on the ground, at least two of whom are executed at close range, while another is captured, according to L’Indépendant. American broadcaster CNN, which commissioned an audio expert, states that these recordings show no signs of tampering.

The order comes from above

For Morris Tidball-Binz, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, the intercepted communications “suggest the execution of soldiers who had surrendered, as has already been reported”. Asked by CNN about this, he believes these executions “would not occur with such frequency and on such a scale without an order – or at the very least, the consent – of the highest military commanders, which in Russia, means the presidency”.

According to a senior Western intelligence official, these findings “reinforce the hypothesis of a directive from the Russian command ordering the killing of surrendering Ukrainian soldiers”.

On 5 May, Ukrainian authorities opened 75 criminal investigations relating to the alleged executions of 268 captured Ukrainian soldiers.

(MH with Manon Pierre – Source: L’Indépendant – Illustration: ©Unsplash)