Kyiv: Ukraine says it will investigate video footage circulated on Russian social media which Moscow alleged shows that Ukrainian forces killed Russian troops who may have been trying to surrender, after one of the men seemingly refused to lay down his weapon and opened fire.
"Of course Ukrainian authorities will investigate this video," Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister overseeing the country's push to join the European Union, said on the sidelines of a security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Stefanishyna, speaking late on Saturday, said "it is very unlikely" that the short, edited snippets show what Moscow claims. Russian authorities announced the opening on Friday of a criminal investigation based on the snippets posted on Russian Telegram channels and relayed on other social media. They present a muddled and incomplete picture.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the footage shows an "execution" and said Russia wants an international investigation.
Stefanishyna, however, said Ukrainian forces are "absolutely not interested in the execution of anybody" and are under direct orders to take "as many prisoners of war as we can" so they can be swapped in prisoner exchanges with Russia.