A drone video that apparently showed three Russian soldiers shooting at least seven of their retreating teammates was made public on Monday by a Ukrainian Telegram channel.
The film was published by Ishi Svoikh, better known as Hunt for Your Own, a project that was created with assistance from the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Drone Footage Reveals Russian Soldiers Firing at Retreating Comrades
The goal of the project is to support the families of Russian invaders who were killed in action and captured in Ukraine by sharing images and documentation.
According to The Kyiv Post, the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN verified the legitimacy of the footage. Asper to UNIAN, the barrier forces that carried out the shooting were military personnel.
The Russian activist group Activatica released the video on Twitter, but Newsweek was unable to confirm its authenticity.
Newsweek sent an email to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting a response.
Before firing directly at the soldiers who are retrieving, the potential barrier troops appear to shoot their rifles in the air as a possible warning.
The reader is cautioned that the following video contains gruesome content because it is unclear whether the shooting killed or harmed the retreating soldiers.
Political consultant Jason Jay Smart on post-Soviet and global politics, Russians murdering their own troops has a long legacy in Russian military history, and it has been commonplace throughout this war.
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Human Life in Ukraine
“This episode, displaying a total lack of concern or interest in safeguarding human life, is the pinnacle of how the Russian military thinks and operates,” said Smart, who also serves as a special journalist for the Kyiv Post.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) first noted the existence of Russian barrier troops in Ukraine in November.
The leader of the Wagner Group, whose mercenaries have participated in combat in Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has threatened to execute deserters in public.
The Financial Times reported in January that media outlets connected to Wagner had published several films of Prigozhin threatening to shoot any of his mercenaries who stopped battling the Ukrainian military.
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